US stocks rise on solid earnings
Wall Street stocks rose for a second straight session on Tuesday on the back of another round of generally solid earnings, with blockbuster results coming later this month. Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson were among the companies that reported better-than-expected results, while Lockheed Martin shot up nearly nine percent as it confirmed its full-year profit outlook and authorised up to US$14 billion in additional share repurchases. "The banks have given Wall Street some reasons to be optimistic," said Oanda's Edward Moya, before adding that companies in other sectors could dim those hopes. "This is an impressive bear-market rally that will likely get faded as the Fed is nowhere near ready to downshift their tightening pace," Moya said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.1 percent to 30,524. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.1 percent to 3,720, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.9 percent to 10,772. Among individual companies, Goldman Sachs won 2.5 percent after reporting lower profits on a big drop in revenues tied to corporate merger advising, but still topping analyst expectations on strong trading revenues. The solid bank earnings have given a boost to investors in what is expected to be a challenging earnings period. Companies in the S&P 500 are expected to see earnings growth of just 1.6 percent, the lowest rate in two years, according to Factset. This week's earnings calendar includes IBM, Procter & Gamble and Tesla. (AFP)