S&P 500 hits record high on tech strength, earnings cheer; Dow up 120 pts

S&P 500 hits record high on tech strength, earnings cheer; Dow up 120 pts

[ad_1]



Gains in Tesla, Nvidia and other heavyweight technology names helped the benchmark index scale a record high on Tuesday, while upbeat results from UPS and GE added to optimism around the third-quarter earnings season.


Tesla Inc rose 1%, extending a record run that helped the electric-car maker surpass $1 trillion in market value on Monday after landing its biggest-ever order from rental car company Hertz.





Nvidia Corp was up 6.8% and hit an all-time high, while gains in mega-cap growth names such as Amazon.com, Apple Inc, Google-owner Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Corp gave a boost to the tech-heavy Nasdaq.


Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors advanced, with consumer discretionary, information technology and financials hitting life-time highs.


United Parcel Service Inc surged 7.6% to top the index after the delivery firm reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, bolstered by strong e-commerce demand.


General Electric Co rose 2.6% after the industrial conglomerate raised its full-year earnings forecast.


Shares of Hasbro Inc climbed 3.7% after the toy maker posted an upbeat third-quarter profit even as it warned of a hit to holiday sales from supply chain issues.


“Investors are prepared for the worst and are looking at the near-term positives against what lies ahead and that is helping gains at an index level,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.


“The key component of the weak outlooks are led by supply and not because of lack of demand for companies … there is confidence that corporate America will be able to navigate through a lot of the supply and inflation headwinds.” Earnings at companies are expected to grow 35.6% year-on-year for the third quarter, with market participants assessing how companies are navigating supply-chain bottlenecks, labor shortages and inflationary pressures.


Some stellar quarterly reports have helped drive the Dow and the S&P 500 to record highs, lifting investor sentiment in October after concerns around inflation, the Fed’s tapering and property group China Evergrande’s crisis rattled last month. The Nasdaq is trading about 0.5% below its Sept. 7 record high.


At 11:46 a.m. ET, the Industrial Average was up 125.39 points, or 0.35%, at 35,866.54 to hit a record high.


The S&P 500 was up 24.64 points, or 0.54%, at 4,591.12, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 94.73 points, or 0.62%, at 15,321.44.


Facebook Inc slipped 3.2% as the social media giant’s third-quarter revenue faced the brunt of Apple’s privacy rules, while advertisers were also affected by global supply-chain disruptions and labor shortages.


Twitter Inc, which also generates revenue by selling digital ads, edged higher ahead of its results on Tuesday.


Eyes are also on quarterly updates from Alphabet Inc and Microsoft after market close, with focus on how Google’s ad revenue fares.


Meanwhile, data showed US consumer confidence unexpectedly rebounded in October as concerns about high inflation were offset by improving labor market prospects.


Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.24-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.


The S&P index recorded 60 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 119 new highs and 44 new lows.

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor



[ad_2]

Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *