US: Stocks rally with oil, tech leading

[NEW YORK] US stocks rallied Thursday, recovering from a rout the prior session, following strong earnings from JPMorgan Chase and a rebound in oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 227.64 points (1.41 per cent) to 16,379.05.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 31.56 (1.67 per cent) to 1,921.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 88.94 (1.97 per cent) to 4,615.00.

The gains came after JPMorgan Chase kicked off the earnings season for large banks with a 10.2 per cent rise in fourth-quarter profits to US$5.4 billion, topping expectations.

The bank reported gains in key consumer lending areas like credit card and auto loans and chief executive Jamie Dimon assessed the overall economy as "pretty good." Analysts also cited a rebound in oil prices as another positive catalyst for stocks. Dow members ExxonMobil and Chevron led the blue-chip index, rising a respective 4.6 per cent and 5.1 per cent.

Technology stocks were also strong. Heavyweight Apple rose 2.2 per cent, Microsoft 2.9 per cent and Facebook 3.1 per cent.

AFP