- Stocks gained ground Wednesday as bank earnings helped the market start recovering from a slide in the previous session.
- The Nasdaq Composite hovered around correction territory.
- Morgan Stanley and Bank of America turned in quarterly earnings that surpassed expectations.
US stocks advanced Wednesday, buoyed by corporate earnings from banks and other companies that surpassed Wall Street's targets, drawing the market out of slump driven by concerns about a fast pace of monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve.
Wall Street's big three equity indexes were higher with Morgan Stanley and Bank of America shares gaining after each bank posted better fourth-quarter earnings than anticipated. Consumer products heavyweight Procter & Gamble posted fiscal second-quarter earnings that topped expectations.
Here's where US indexes stood at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 4,604.53, up 0.6%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,493.79, up 0.35% (125.32 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 14,630.59, up 0.87%
Stocks slumped in the previous session on expectations the Fed will raise interest rates by up to four times this year, with market talk including a potential rate hike of 50 basis points, as it pulls back from its emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic. Equities had suffered as borrowing costs marched higher, with the 10-year Treasury yield hitting a two-year high.
Investors were keeping watch on the Nasdaq Composite which sat near correction territory. Tuesday's loss marked a 9.7% decline from the index's all-time closing high of 16,057.44 on November 19.
Around the market, the crypto market slipped below $2 trillion with bitcoin and altcoins under pressure.
Sony lost $20 billion in market value following Microsoft's massive deal to buy Activision Blizzard.
Oil prices rose. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 0.7% to $86.02 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, picked up 0.6%, at $88.03.
Gold rose 0.6% to $1,823.70 per ounce. The 10-year yield shed 1 basis point, at 1.867%.
Bitcoin lost 0.4% to trade at $42,209.13.