— This is the script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on August 2, Wednesday.
US stocks gain overnight and analysts have said that this is largely due to large companies reporting better-than-expected earnings in their ongoing quarterly earnings. As of last Friday, FactSet announced that within the S&P 500 companies that had reported their financial earnings, 73% of them recorded sales revenue above estimates. One of the reasons why recent stock markets continued to record gains is the exceptional performance of giant technology stocks, of which, Apple is one of them. In the overnight's announcement of Apple's third quarterly earnings, Apple stood at USD 45.41 billion, an increase from 7% over last year. Also, Apple's earnings per share year-on-year rose sharply, by more than 17%. Indeed, Apple has a relatively good outlook, with their current quarterly revenue expected to be between USD49 billion and USD52 billion. If we look specifically into the sales of their products, Apple's mobile phone revenue rose by 3%, the iPad rose by 2% while the Apple iMac rose by 7%. In terms of Apple's income through its services, it has done exceptionally well, with Apple stores, Apple pay and Apple music recorded a substantial jump last year, an increase by 22%, boosting overall revenue.
Therefore, overnight, Apple stocks closed and rose by 6%. It is not just Apple that witnessed such great earnings. Companies like Facebook and other technology giants have also very good earnings. In a way, all of them contributed to the overall rising of the U.S. stocks.
And overnight, consecutively for five days, the Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA) closed at a record high, only 36.08 points away from 22,000 points.
In a recent interview, analysts expressed that the weakness of the dollar boosted overseas exports in large enterprises, which is exactly what the Trump Administration has hoped for.
[Frank Holmes, U.S. Global Investors CEO & Chief Investment Officer] "But I think coming back is important for investors to recognise PMIs. The PMIs in Europe are so strong, 6-9 months ago, which help drive the economy. Now, you are seeing the U.S being stronger, with a weaker dollar. The global PMIs slightly down in Europe as the European's currency is rallying. There's always a gives and takes around the world but overall, its pretty bullish."
Yet, at the same time, it is worth noting that the U.S. retail investors continue to rush into the stock market, alongside the bull run.
For example, the U.S. financial services giant Charles Schwab recently announced that in the second quarter, there was an additional 350,000 investors accounts, recording a 34% increase in the first half of the year. Also, this increase marks the company's best performance over the past 17 years. The number of new retail investors is also up by over 50% as compared to the same period last year. This shows that among retail investors, many still have a positive regard towards the U.S stock market.
As for how long will this U.S. bull trend lasts, we will continue to keep watch for you.
CNBC's Qian Chen reporting from Singapore.