The stock market experienced its best day in more than three weeks on Tuesday, as more companies reported their spring profits.
The S&P 500 rose 2.8% as a strong tide lifted 99% of the index’s companies higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 3.1%.
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Smaller company stocks increased, even more, propelling the Russell 2000 index up 3.5%.
Stocks have fallen approximately 20% this year due to concerns about increasing interest rates and strong inflation, putting an even harsher emphasis on how much profit companies make. If earnings continue to rise, markets will benefit greatly. However, if CEOs warn of impending problems, another drop may be on the way.
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Toy company Hasbro rose 0.7% after it reported a stronger profit than analysts expected. Oilfield services provider Halliburton added 2.1% after its profit and revenue topped forecasts. Netflix jumped 8% in after-hours trading after the company reported better-than-expected results and a smaller subscriber loss than analysts had feared.
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Twitter rose 2.8% after a court in Delaware agreed to quickly schedule a lawsuit that could force billionaire Elon Musk to make good on his agreement to buy the company.
IBM, though, fell 5.2% despite reporting stronger revenue and earnings than expected. The company’s profit margins fell short of some analysts’ expectations, and concerns are rising about the effect of the dollar’s recent strength against other currencies. While a stronger dollar helps limit inflation at home, it can also undercut the value of sales made abroad by U.S. companies.
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The dollar’s value eased a bit against other currencies Tuesday, which allayed some fears for the market. So too, counterintuitively, may have a report that showed an extreme level of pessimism among investors.
The S&P 500 has been flip-flopping between weekly gains and losses over the last month, after a rough run where it dropped in 10 of 11 weeks. The swings have even hit hour to hour, with early morning gains quickly evaporating by the afternoon. On Monday, an early 1% gain gave way to a 0.8% loss.
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On Tuesday, the S&P 500 ended 105.84 points higher at 3,936.69. The Dow jumped 754.44 points to 31,827.05, and the Nasdaq rose 353.10 points to 11,713.15. The Russell 2000 picked up 60.91 points to 1,799.32.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates for the first time in 11 years in hopes of knocking down high inflation.
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The Federal Reserve has already raised rates three times this year and by increasing amounts each time. It will announce its next increase next week, and the only question among investors is whether it will go with another increase of 0.75 percentage points or a colossal hike of a full point.
The yield on the two-year Treasury, which tends to track expectations for Fed action, rose to 3.24% from 3.17% late Monday. The 10-year yield rose to 3.02% from 2.96%.