U.S. Stocks Rallied Amidst Optimistic Sentiment

Banking and Megacap surge upwards In the U.S. while in Malaysia, The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose to rests just above the 1,385-point plateau and it’s tipped to open in the green again on Tuesday with oil and gas, telcos, rubber glove and shipping sectors showing gains.

Wall Street stocks scored solid gains on Monday (Oct 17), boosted by better-than-expected bank results that lifted hopes for earnings season.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 550.99 points, or 1.86%, to 30,185.82, the S&P 500 gained 94.88 points, or 2.65%, to 3,677.95 and the Nasdaq Composite added 354.41 points, or 3.43%, to 10,675.80.

Fellow financial Bank of NY Mellon Corp also benefited from higher interest rates, and its shares climbed 5.08%.

Overall, higher rates boosted interest incomes for lenders in the third quarter, giving investors hope the current earnings season will be able to hurdle a lowered bar of expectations. The earnings growth estimate for the quarter is 3%, according to Refinitiv data, down from 4.5% at the start of the month and 11.1% on July 1.

“In a fragile market like this, any type of good news in the margin can go a long way,” said Emily Roland, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management in Boston.

“There is better sentiment around what is happening in the UK, financials earnings are being supported by a number of factors, better net interest margins are one key element, higher rates are going to be good for the banks so Q3 earnings maybe are looking a little less bad than feared, I would put it, maybe not necessarily better than feared.”

The S&P 500 banks index was up 3.48%, while each of the 11 major S&P 500 sector were higher.

Shares of Goldman Sachs, which will post results today (Oct 18), advanced 2.24% following reports of a plan to combine its investment banking and trading businesses.

Major megacap growth stocks like Apple Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com and Tesla Inc all rallied, helping to lift the S&P 500 growth index by 3.42%, its biggest daily percentage jump since July 27.

Tesla Inc, Netflix and Johnson & Johnson are among companies expected to report results later in the week. – AFP, Reuters

Previous articleEPMB Targets 20,000 EV’s For SEA Market With SAEAN Partnership
Next articleWhat If… Fed Gets More Hawkish, Recession On The Horizon?

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here