• U.S. stocks closed

Market news

24 November 2015

U.S. stocks closed

U.S. stocks erased earlier losses as investors shook off concerns over the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkish forces, and energy shares rallied for their first back-to-back gains in three weeks.

Commodity companies led a rebound, with raw-materials joining energy to rise the most among S&P 500's main groups. Airlines slumped along with travel-related shares after a government warning to American travelers abroad coupled with a jump in crude prices.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.1 percent to 2,08.54 at 4 p.m. in New York, after earlier falling as much as 0.8 percent. The gauge has gone without two straight winning sessions since Nov. 3.

Turkey shot down the Russian warplane near the border with northwestern Syria, drawing an angry rebuke from President Vladimir Putin and marking the first direct clash between foreign powers embroiled in the civil war. He said Russia "won't tolerate such crimes" but stopped short of threatening any military response against Turkey, which is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, warning only of "serious consequences" for bilateral ties.

While global financial markets were jolted by concerns that the situation could escalate, political analysts in Russia and Europe said that seemed unlikely given the risks associated with any conflict between Russia and a NATO member. The incident comes with Brussels on the highest-level terror alert and after the U.S. State Department issued a global alert for Americans.

The geopolitical tensions overshadowed data today that showed the economy expanded at a faster pace in the third quarter than previously reported, bolstering the Federal Reserve's case for raising borrowing costs for the first time since 2006. Traders are now pricing in a 74 percent probability that the Fed will increase interest rates next month.

A separate report showed home prices climbed more than estimated in September compared to a year earlier, signaling residential real estate is sustaining momentum. Another gauge showed consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in November to the lowest since September 2014.

Stocks struggled to add to an advance following the S&P 500's strongest weekly gain this year, with the gauge little changed from its Friday close. The benchmark is 2 percent away from its May record after rallying 12 percent from a summer swoon and its first correction in four years.

The earnings season is drawing to a close, with almost all members of the gauge having reported. Of those, 74 percent beat profit estimates, while only 44 percent exceeded sales forecasts. Analysts project profits for index members fell 3.8 percent in the third quarter, compared with expectations for a 7.2 percent drop at the start of the season.

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