US open: Netflix leads the way as stocks go green at the bell

Wall Street trading started on a positive note on Tuesday as investors eyed the latest numbers from investment banking behemoth Goldman Sachs and a blowout earnings beat from Netflix.

At 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.93%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were 0.78% and 1.15% firmer, respectively, jumping above their short-term trend lines for the first time in almost a month.

Connor Campbell, a financial analyst at SpreadEx, said, "The Dow surged 220 points after the bell rang on Wall Street, a move that took it to 24800 for the first time in nearly a month, i.e. before the end of March’s malaise. A lack of news, be it about a US-China trade war, or military action in Syria, or an escalation of aggression between the US and Russia, has helped the Dow get its swagger back, the index further boosted by a so-far strong season of earnings."

On the corporate front, Goldman Sachs was down 0.87% after its first-quarter earnings surged 27% as the US investment bank’s trading business rebounded in response to increased market volatility and Netflix rallied 7.07% after posting its first-quarter earnings late on Monday.

IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "Netflix's numbers last night helped to bolster risk sentiment, acting as a pleasant throwback to the heady days of 2017, when all seemed to be rosy. The group continues to find new subscribers, allowing it to remain in the ‘growth stock’ end of the market, permitting investors to ignore its growing debt pile."

Elsewhere, shares in UnitedHealth gained 3.92% after revealing an earnings beat on the back of higher revenues, but Johnson & Johnson was down 2.03% after doing the same.

Tesla stock on the other hand was down by 0.93% after the electric car maker said it had halted production of its Model 3 for the second time.

Set to report after the close of markets on Tuesday were IBM and United Continental.

On the data front, US housing starts rose by more than expected in March, according to data released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday.

Housing starts were up 1.9% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.319m units, versus expectations for a rise to 1.262m. The February figure, meanwhile, was revised to 1.295m from 1.236m.

Elsewhere, growth in US industrial production slowed sharply in March after a sizeable advance a month earlier, with gains in the mining and utilities sectors offset by a slowdown in manufacturing.

Industrial production, which measures output at factories, mines and utilities, moved ahead 0.5% in March, according to data from the Federal Reserve, down from the 1% jump reported in February but still ahead of the 0.3% gain predicted by analysts.

Investors will also eye speeches from a number of Federal Reserve policymakers later in the day, with John Williams, Randal Quarles, Patrick Harker and Charles Evans all due to make appearances.