The Nasdaq has outpaced Wall Street peers, with Tesla leading gains among megacap stocks after its quarterly results while upbeat earnings reports across other sectors have also offered support.
Tesla led gains across megacap stocks with a 9.7 per cent jump after the electric-vehicle maker eased some worries about growth with a prediction that sales would rise this year and said it would roll out more affordable models in early 2025.
Some other growth stocks also advanced, with Microsoft and Nvidia up 0.8 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.
The earnings season was in full swing with drug maker Biogen adding 3.7 per cent on beating first-quarter profit expectations.
Boston Scientific rose 6.1 per cent after the medical device maker raised its annual profit forecast.
Hasbro gained 13.9 per cent after the toy maker reported a smaller than expected drop in first-quarter sales and handily beat profit estimates.
Wabtec advanced 10.8 per cent after the heavy industrial parts maker raised its full-year profit forecast.
Meanwhile, social media firms Meta Platforms and Snap gained 1.8 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively, after the US Senate passed a bill late on Tuesday that would ban TikTok in the United States if its owner, the Chinese tech firm ByteDance, failed to divest the popular short video app.
Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet are scheduled to report their quarterly results later this week.
“Last week was really rough for the Nasdaq, it was almost indiscriminate selling of all growth stocks,” said Russell Hackmann, president of Hackmann Wealth Partners.
“So certainly you’re just kind of seeing some bounce.”
US equities have recouped some losses following last week’s slump when investors turned risk-off amid tensions in the Middle East and more data prompting a tuning to their rate-cut expectations from the Federal Reserve.
On the data front, new orders for key US-manufactured capital goods rose moderately in March and data for the prior month was revised lower, suggesting business spending on equipment was likely sluggish in the first quarter.
Focus will now shift to the much anticipated Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index reading for March, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, due on Friday.
In early trading on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 33.34 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 38,470.35, the S&P 500 was up 14.60 points, or 0.29 per cent, at 5,085.15, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 127.90 points, or 0.81 per cent, at 15,824.54.
Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading lower, with utilities the worst hit. Consumer discretionary was amongst top gainers.
Visa added 2.4 per cent after the payments processing giant’s second-quarter results sailed past Wall Street estimates.
Texas Instruments climbed 6.2 per cent after the chipmaker forecast second-quarter revenue above analysts’ estimates.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 2.9 per cent as most chip stocks rallied.
Solar inverter maker Enphase Energy lost 3.3 per cent after projecting second-quarter revenue below analysts’ estimates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.45-to-1 ratio on the NYSE.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.04-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded seven new 52-week highs and two new lows while the Nasdaq recorded 22 new highs and 27 new lows.