Wall St gains as Alphabet lifts Nasdaq to fresh record high
For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.
Alphabet jumps to over three-month high
Eli Lilly misses weight-loss, diabetes drug estimates
AMD falls, weighing on chip stocks
ADP jobs data posts beat, Q3 GDP advance numbers miss estimates
Indexes up: Dow 0.51%, S&P 500 0.29%, Nasdaq 0.24%
Updated at 12:01 p.m. ET/1601 GMT
By Lisa Pauline Mattackal
Oct 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes advanced on Wednesday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq rising to a record high, as investors assessed corporate earnings as well as crucial data showing the economy maintained a steady pace of growth in the third quarter.
Shares of Alphabet GOOGL.O, the first of the five "Magnificent Seven" megacap stocks due to report results this week, soared 5.4% after the company beat expectations for third-quarter revenue and profit on strength in its cloud business and YouTube ad sales.
However, chip stocks tumbled, weighed by dourforecasts fromAdvanced Micro Devices AMD.O andQorvo QRVO.O, which lost 9.6% and 27%, respectively.
Nvidia NVDA.O was down 1%, while an index of chip stocks .SOX fell 2.8%.
"The overall trend of AI is intact, but people are coming to the realization that the hardware piece is going to be a lot harder to make money in, so they're taking some of the gains and using these imperfect earnings as an excuse to reposition things into the software space," said Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group.
"Alphabet is going to absolutely dominate in this environment, and it's showing."
In economic data, the U.S. gross domestic product increased at a 2.8% annualized rate, according to the Commerce Department's advance estimate of third-quarter GDP, slightly below economists' forecast of 3.0% growth.
A separate report showed U.S. private payrolls growth surged by a higher-than-expected 233,000 jobs in October.
"The GDP and ADP reports are consistent with the Fed making another interest-rate cut at their post-election decision next week, but a smaller quarter-percentage-point one," said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank.
The neck-and-neck race between U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was also at the top of investors' minds ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Traders anticipate a 25-basis-point rate cut in the Federal Reserve's November andDecember meetings.
Megacaps Microsoft MSFT.O and Meta Platforms META.O rose 1.1% each, with both companies scheduled to report after the bell.
Given the significant role they played in Wall Street's rally this year, megacaps will be the most closely watched in an earnings-packed week. Their results are expected to provide insight into whether heavy AI investment is translating into better company performances.
Visa V.N leapt 3.9% to a record high, lifting the Dow, after its fourth-quarter profit beat estimates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 213.91 points, or 0.51%, to 42,446.96, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 16.74 points, or 0.29%, to 5,849.66 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 44.68 points, or 0.24%, to 18,756.66.
The Information Technology sector .SPLRCT was the biggest sectoral decliner, while Alphabet's gains lifted Communication Services .SPLRCL to an all-time high.
Meanwhile, shares of Super Micro Computer SMCI.O plunged 32.8% after Ernst & Young resigned as the company's accountant.
EliLilly LLY.N lost 6.6% after missing sales estimates for its popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.9-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.21-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 110 new highs and 73 new lows.
Alphabet's cloud revenue growth accelerates on AI boom https://reut.rs/4hpeEwE
The Magnificent Seven https://reut.rs/4hpeHIQ
Reporting by Lisa Mattackal, Sruthi Shankar and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
