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Visa rises after Q2 results beat
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Meta, Snap up after Senate passes TikTok ban bill
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Indexes: Dow down 0.09%, S&P up 0.29%, Nasdaq up 0.81%
(Updated at 9:39 a.m. ET/1339 GMT)
By Shristi Achar A and Shashwat Chauhan
April 24 (Reuters) -
The Nasdaq outpaced Wall Street peers on Wednesday, with
Tesla leading gains among megacap stocks after its quarterly
results, while upbeat earnings reports across other sectors also
offered support.
Tesla led gains across megacap stocks with a 9.7%
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 ( MSFT )
and Nvidia ( NVDA ) up 0.8% and 1.6%, respectively.
The earnings season was in full swing with drugmaker Biogen
adding 3.7% on beating first-quarter profit
expectations.
Boston Scientific ( BSX )
rose 6.1% after the medical device maker raised its
annual profit forecast.
Hasbro ( HAS )
gained 13.9% after the toymaker reported a
smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter sales and handily
beat profit estimates.
Wabtec
advanced 10.8% after the heavy industrial parts
maker raised its full-year profit forecast.
Meanwhile, social media firms Meta Platforms ( META )
and Snap gained 1.8% and 0.6%, respectively, after the
U.S. 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 ( MSFT ) 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."
U.S. 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
U.S.-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.
At 9:39 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was
down 33.34 points, or 0.09%, at 38,470.35, the S&P 500
was up 14.60 points, or 0.29%, at 5,085.15, and the Nasdaq
Composite was up 127.90 points, or 0.81%, 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% after the payments processing giant's
second-quarter results sailed past Wall Street estimates.
Texas Instruments ( TXN ) climbed 6.2% after the chipmaker
forecast second-quarter revenue above analysts' estimates.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 2.9% as
most chip stocks rallied.
Solar inverter maker Enphase Energy ( ENPH ) lost 3.3% 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.