Visa, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft and Caterpillar were top gainers on the Dow
US stocks closed higher Wednesday as markets eased some of the month’s brutal losses before the end of October.
Some investors believe that October’s sell-off has been overblown, given that key indicators are still pointing to a strong underlying economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 241.12 points or 0.97% to 25,115.76 led higher by Visa, Caterpillar, and Goldman Sachs.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 7,305.90 points or 2.01% to 7,305.90 thanks to a 7.2% rally in T-Mobile US and a 6.2% gain in Incyte Corp.
The S&P 500 rallied more than 1.09% to close at 2,711.74 as Molson Coors Brewing jumped 9.9% and General Motors Co also shot up 9.1%.
12.30 PM: Dow jumps more than 250 points
The US benchmarks were climbing higher this afternoon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped about 265 points with techs stocks and bank stocks on the rise. Visa Inc (NYSE:V), The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) , Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) were top gainers this afternoon.
The S&P 500 was up more than 30 points by midday.
Petroleum refiner HollyFrontier Corp (NYSE:HFC) was a top gainer after a third-quarter earnings beat.
The Nasdaq jumped nearly 150 points in afternoon trading.
T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) were two of the best-performing stocks on the tech-heavy index.
T-Mobile has reportedly received shareholder approval for its Sprint merger plans.
The Russell 2000 was up about 0.8% this afternoon with Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ:ARAY) leading the charge after better-than-expected first-quarter revenue results.
Up north, the TSX was up more than 130 points as crude oil prices boosted energy shares.
10:00 AM: Wall Street pushes higher on robust quarterly results
US stocks jumped at the open on Wednesday as robust quarterly reports from General Motors and Facebook provided a bit of optimism to end a harsh month for the markets
Shortly after the opening bell, General Motors shares (NYSE:GM) were up 6.3% at $35.73 after the car maker reported far better-than-expected third quarter results and made a bullish call on its full-year earnings forecast thanks to better pricing in North America and gains in China.
Facebook shares (NASDAQ:FB) also traded 5.5% higher to hit $154.23 after the social media giant reported earnings per share of $1.76 on revenue of $13.73 billion. The results were mixed as analysts had expected per-share profits of $1.47 on revenue of $13.78 billion.
Market sentiment was also helped by optimistic economic data as companies continued to hire at a rapid pace. Private payrolls beat forecasts of 189,000 new jobs and jumped by 227,000 in October, per a report from ADP and Moody’s Analytics.
Early in the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index climbed 275 points to reach 25,150, pushed up by gains of more than 2% from Visa Inc, Microsoft Corp, Caterpillar Inc, Boeing and Goldman Sachs Group.
The tech-laden Nasdaq also pushed further into positive territory to add 139 points and hit 7,301, lifted by T-Mobile US, Western Digital Corp, Netflix, Facebook and Amazon.com. T-Mobile, which added 7% to touch $68.43, was the Nasdaq’s best performer, after its earnings beat estimates and came in at $795 million on revenue of $10.84 billion.
Elsewhere, the S&P 500 also rose 32 points to 2,715 while the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks popped by 18 points to 1,524.
Treasury yields were also up on Wednesday, with the 10-year note picking up 4 basis points to reach 3.16%.
Up in Canada, Toronto’s TSX picked up 110 points to hit 15,004, moving in parallel with the US indices.
7:22 AM: US stocks seen bouncing back as optimism returns; ADP jobs report later
Wall Street shares recovered Tuesday and futures are pointing to a higher open as traders came back to risk and ahead of jobs data later.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed ahead over 431 points at 24,874, while the S&P 500 gained over 41 at 2,682. The tech heavy Nasdaq index added over 11 points to 7,161.
David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets in London, said earlier: “The major US indices had a strong finish last night as some of the fear that has been circulating Wall Street evaporated.
“The US labor market is in good shape and the latest ADP employment report will be released at 12:15pm (UK time), and traders are expecting 189,000. A strong number could renew fears about monetary tightening from the Federal Reserve.”
S&P, the ratings ratings agency announced yesterday that the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a deal had ‘increased sufficiently’, and if that happens, the recession might last four or five quarters. The UK pound was hit by the announcement.
In futures trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones is ahead by 217 points; the Nasdaq is up by 134 points and the S&P 500 is up by 29.5 points.
In London, FTSE 100 is up nearly 105 points at 7,140, the German Dax is ahead by 140 points and the French CAC 40 is ahead by nearly 108 points at 5,086.
Elsewhere, in Asia, the Nikkei 225 closed up over 463 points at 21,920, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained almost 35 points at 2,601.
In Toronto, the TSX closed ahead by over 172 points at 14,894.