The Nasdaq rose more than 2% to a five-month intra-day high on Thursday as meta platforms rose on tighter cost controls, while a dovish message from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell predicted a soft landing for the US economy. Raised stakes.
Meta Platforms Inc soared 21.1% to an eight-month high after Facebook-parent announced new shares worth $40 billion buy back And said it would cut costs by $5 billion to between $89 billion and $95 billion in 2023.
including shares of other development companies apple inc, Alphabet Inc and Amazon, Com Inc rose between 2.2% and 6.4%. All three companies are scheduled to announce their quarterly results after the market closes.
Five of the top 11 S&P 500 sectors advanced, with the communications services sector, which includes Meta and other growth stocks, jumping 5.6% to its highest level in five months.
“It certainly looks like the markets are up as earnings were surprisingly positive for Meta,” said Sam Stovall, head Investment Strategist at CFRA Research in New York.
“Investors are also encouraged by the fact that the Fed is enticing in a way that it has done or is going to do with its rate tightening program.”
Wall Street’s main indexes got a boost in the previous session as Powell acknowledged that inflation was starting to ease after the US central bank raised rates by 25 basis points.
Powell’s comments brought relief to investors that a US recession, widely priced in, would likely be mild.
Data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to a nine-month low last week, highlighting the resilience of the labor market, ahead of nonfarm payrolls numbers on Friday.
After a strong start to 2022, US stock markets have started the year on a strong note with megacap companies expecting the Fed to ease its tight monetary policy stance, which in turn could take some of the pressure off their valuations.
At 10:21 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 185.50 points, or 0.54%, at 33,907.46, the S&P 500 was up 34.99 points, or 0.85%, at 4,154.20 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 253.10 points, or 2.14. %, at 12,069.42.
The Dow was dragged down by bleak earnings, with Honeywell International Inc down 2.4% after reporting a 28.6% drop in quarterly profit.
Drugmaker Merck & Co declined 2.7% on a lower-than-expected annual forecast, while Eli Lilly & Co slashed quarterly revenue estimates by 5.2%.
Align Technology Inc soared 25.4% in a year to a nine-month high in its first-quarter results.
Nearly half of S&P 500 firms, 70%, reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts now see a 2.4% decline in earnings for S&P 500 firms for the quarter, according to Refinitiv estimates.
Outselling issues on the NYSE by a 2.06-to-1 ratio and on the Nasdaq by a 2.47-to-1 ratio.
The S&P index recorded 26 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 98 new highs and six new lows.
The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification. Only the headline has been changed.
Know your inner investor
Do you have guts of steel or are you a victim of insomnia regarding your investments? Let’s define your investment approach.
catch all business News, market news, today’s fresh news events and Breaking News Update on Live Mint. download mint news app To get daily market updates.