Investing.com – Wall Street closed higher as upbeat earnings from corporates aided the recovery in US stocks from their worst weekly slump in two years ahead of a crucial inflation report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 24640.45. The S&P 500 closed 0.26% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 7013.51, up 0.45%.
Investors cheered better-than-estimated earnings from PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) and Under Armour, with the latter, in particular, revealing a surprisingly positive quarterly performance.
Under Armour Inc C (NYSE:UA) reported fourth quarter revenue of $1.36 billion, up 5% from the prior year period, and ahead of the $1.3 billion analysts had forecast.
Financials, mostly banks, also lifted the broader market, as traders await a crucial consumer price index update, which could either justify or dent the recent move in US bond yields, potentially triggering an aggressive move in equity markets as was witnessed last week.
Investor expectations for a faster pace of inflation has grown in recent weeks amid bullish CPI data in January and an uptick in wage growth reflected in the nonfarm payrolls report. A softer CPI report on Wednesday, however, could lead many to question whether investor expectations for a faster pace of price increases were premature.
On the corporate earnings front, investors look ahead to an earnings report from, Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU), HubSpot Inc (NYSE:HUBS) Twilio Inc (NYSE:TWLO), among others after US markets close.
The Dow Jones posted its first three-day winning streak in more than month as the explosive turn in volatility which characterised last week massive selloff faded somewhat as the so-called fear index VIX continued to trickle lower, well below last week’s 50.3 level.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) rose 1.6%, Walmart (NYSE:WMT) up 1.4%, and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) up 1.1%.
DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) down 1.5%, United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) down 1.3%, and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) down 1% were among the worst Dow performers of the session