Proactive Investors -
- US stocks on front foot
- PMI data lower than expected
- Spotify, General Motors and GE rally
11.00am: Wall Street pushes higher
US stocks are pushing higher as Wall Street before heading to lunch, with the beginning of a busy earnings period getting of to a good start.
The Dow Jones lifted around 221 points to 38,461, while the S&P added an extra 50 points, taking it to 5,060.
Leading the charge was the Nasdaq, which rose close to 200 points to reach 15,654, representing a nearly 1.3% daily gain.
While record revenues at Spotify and guidance hikes by General Motors and GE have garnered investor attention, they aren't the only companies impressing.
In fact, around 20% of S&P 500 constituents reported earnings on Tuesday, 76% of which managed to beat Wall Street guidance.
In macro news, flash PMI data came in lower than expected at 49.9, down from 51.9 in February and falling to the lowest point in 2024.
“Companies responded by scaling back employment for the first time in almost four years, with business confidence also waning to the lowest since last November,” the report said.
9.52am: Wall Street sees green
Wall Street enjoyed a positive start on Tuesday, as the Nasdaq added 72 points to reach 15,524, followed by 65 and 19-point gains by the Dow Jones and S&P 500 respectively.
A busy day of earnings had plenty of companies moving early on, including Spotify Technology SA (NYSE:SPOT), which was up 13.9% in early trading after unveiling a jump in revenue on subscriber growth over the first quarter.
Respective hikes to full-year guidance in their updates saw General Electric Co (NYSE:NYSE:GE) and General Motors Company (NYSE:NYSE:GM) also racked up 4% gains early on.
Among others, Danaher Corp (NYSE:DHR) notched up gains of 6.7%, while Kimberly-Clark Corp (NYSE:NYSE:KMB, ETR:KMY) climbed 5.6%, as each outdid expectations in updates.
Earnings misses had Msci Inc and LKQ Corp (NASDAQ:LKQ) among the day’s biggest losers in the meantime, as each fell 10.2% and 9.8% respectively.
6.52am: Busy day of earnings ahead
Futures trading had the markets opening higher on a busy day of earnings on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones was up 62 points at 38,530 in pre-market trading, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 climbed 47 and 11 points respectively to 17,397 and 5,058.
Spotify was among pre-market movers, up 8.4%, after kicking off a busy day of earnings with a report showing a 20% increase in revenue to €3.6 billion on subscriber growth.
General Motors Co was up by 3.5% in the meantime, after beating first-quarter expectations and raising guidance in an update on Monday evening.
Also climbing on an earnings beat was General Electric Co (NYSE:GE), by 5.2%, while PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Inc (NASDAQ:PEP, ETR:PEP) fell following its report.
Also reporting on Tuesday was Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE:NYSE:PM, ETR:4I1) and Visa Inc (NYSE:NYSE:V, ETR:3V64), with Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s much-anticipated update expected after the market closes.
“It is safe to say that expectations are now low,” eToro analyst Sam North commented ahead of the results, highlighting repeated price cuts recently to stimulate demand.
“Whilst it’s not quite make-or-break territory for Elon Musk’s company, it does feel like a monumental report.”