US close: Stocks higher as traders thumb over Q1 earnings

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Tuesday as corporate earnings began to roll in from a number of the nation's biggest firms.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.69% at 38,503.69, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.20% to 5,070.55, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.59% firmer at 15,696.64.

The Dow closed 263.71 points higher on Tuesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session.

Corporate earnings were firmly in focus on Tuesday, with UPS shares trading higher following better-than-expected quarterly figures, while PepsiCo shares headed south despite publishing a quarterly earnings beat.

General Motors raised its full-year guidance on the back of a big Q1 earnings beat, Spotify said it had turned a profit last quarter as revenues came in ahead of estimates, and JetBlue shares flew lower after revealing its Q1 loss had widened significantly and issued a profit warnings for the year as a whole.

Tesla reported a sharp drop in earnings for the first three months of the year, driven by declining sales and a cooling EV market, and issued downbeat guidance that added to mounting concerns regarding the company's strategy.

On the macro front, a preliminary reading of S&P Global's manufacturing fell to 49.9 in April 2024, the lowest in four months and sort of expectations for a print of 52, while the services PMI dropped to 50.9 in April, the lowest level in five months and also below expectations for a reading of 52.

Elsewhere, new home sales in the United States bounced back strongly in March after a sharp downward revision to numbers the month before. New privately-owned home sales jumped by 8.8% to a seasonally-adjusted annualised rate of 693,000 last month, according to the Census Bureau. This was the highest level in six months and well ahead of the 668,000 expected by analysts. February's sales were revised to 637,000, down from the initial estimate of 662,000.

Finally, the Richmond Fed's composite manufacturing index increased to -7 in April, up from -11 in March, with shipments and new orders increasing and employment falling. Firms continued to report declining backlogs and vendor lead times in April, while the capacity utilisation index rose to -5 from -21.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $39.70 2.85%
American Express Co. (AXP) $238.96 2.56%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $407.57 1.65%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $424.00 1.59%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $363.25 1.58%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $113.71 1.54%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $192.14 1.44%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $276.68 1.05%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $339.00 0.86%
Visa Inc. (V) $274.11 0.65%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Walmart Inc. (WMT) $59.09 -1.75%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $486.18 -1.03%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $18.05 -0.93%
Boeing Co. (BA) $169.18 -0.76%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $56.74 -0.44%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.28 -0.38%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $94.02 -0.18%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $126.88 -0.05%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $214.32 0.02%

S&P 500 - Risers

Globe Life Inc. (GL) $75.76 14.11%
General Electric Co. (GE) $162.62 8.28%
Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) $4.90 7.69%
Danaher Corp. (DHR) $253.11 7.21%
Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB) $136.04 5.51%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $19.54 5.39%
United Rentals Inc. (URI) $661.32 5.09%
Quest Diagnostics (DGX) $136.70 5.08%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $19.72 4.95%
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) $574.59 4.78%

S&P 500 - Fallers

LKQ Corporation (LKQ) $41.65 -14.88%
Msci Inc. (MSCI) $446.00 -13.43%
Nucor Corp. (NUE) $174.64 -8.87%
Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) $14.58 -6.42%
Packaging Corp. Amer (PKG) $170.88 -4.69%
Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP) $407.69 -3.25%
PepsiCo Inc (PEP) $171.22 -2.97%
Kroger Co. (KR) $55.63 -2.28%
Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW) $302.36 -2.23%
Tapestry Inc. (TPR) $39.44 -2.16%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Fiserv Inc. (FI) $155.39 4.43%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $69.92 4.28%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $577.75 4.17%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $58.14 4.01%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $824.23 3.65%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $1.01 3.60%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $311.56 3.57%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $124.46 3.50%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $630.88 3.46%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $901.57 3.39%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

American Airlines Group (AAL) $14.23 -2.06%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $93.03 -1.95%
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) $281.76 -1.14%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $18.05 -0.93%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $67.77 -0.63%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $51.65 -0.52%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $40.36 -0.52%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $133.09 -0.51%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $193.18 -0.48%
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $222.25 -0.41%