Wall Street rose higher on Thursday as strong earnings from the meta platform removed battered technology and growth stocks and eased concerns around a contraction in US economic growth in the first quarter.
Facebook-Parent grew 12.4% after reporting higher-than-expected gains and the social-networking site outpacing user growth.
Seven of the 11 key S&P 500 sectors advanced in early trading, with technology and communications services leading the way.
Apple Inc. and e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc., the world’s most valuable company, posted gains of 1.9% and 2.1%, respectively, from their earnings later in the day.
“The general thesis has been pretty good with earnings so far,” said Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers.
“But until you get more clarity on how inflation is playing out over the next few quarters, and what the Fed’s response is going to be, the earnings we’ve seen will probably help keep the market range in check.” Will do.”
A report from the US Department of Commerce shows that GDP fell at a 1.4% annual rate last quarter after rising 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the economy to grow at 1.1%.
The decline in production reflects a widening trade deficit and moderate pace of inventory accumulation. While the headline figures may raise noise about stagflation and slowdown for some quarters, it is not a true reflection of the economy.
The Ukraine war, China’s COVID lockdown and rising inflation weighed on the outlook for the global economy, leaving markets volatile in April.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq is poised for its worst monthly performance in years as investors dumped high-growth stocks on fears that rising interest rates would threaten future earnings and Netflix Inc posted a shocking subscriber loss. Did.
At 10:14 am, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 91.62 points, or 0.28%, at 33,393.55, the S&P 500 was up 23.91 points, or 0.57%, at 4,207.87 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 65.03 points, or 0.52. %, at 12,553.96.
Twitter Inc., which has agreed to a $44 billion sale to Elon Musk, fell 0.4% as the ongoing war in Ukraine slashed total revenue and ad sales below analyst estimates.
Overall, first-quarter earnings have been better than expected, with nearly 80% of the 176 companies in the S&P 500 reporting results through Thursday, beating Wall Street’s expectations. Typically, only 66% of companies surpassed the estimates.
Qualcomm Inc jumped 5% following the chipmaker’s forecast of third-quarter revenue above analyst expectations. Piers Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc rose more than 1% each.
Caterpillar Inc. slipped 4.8% as it indicated that profit margins in the current quarter were likely to be pressured by rising costs, while Amgen Inc. fell 5.4% after the drugmaker said the US Internal Revenue Service would expect an additional tax of $5.1 billion. is demanding.
The number of issues declined outweighs the advisors to 1.11-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. The decline issues in the number of advances to a 1.34-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded a new 52-week high and 23 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 18 new highs and 372 new lows.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.