US: Stocks bounce back after two days of losses

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks resumed their upward climb on Wednesday, shrugging off disappointing results from Netflix and advancing after two down days.

Most sectors enjoyed a strong session, including industrial companies like Caterpillar, oil firms including ExxonMobil and financial giants like Bank of America.

"The mood is very positive and it's a good sign," Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities told AFP. "It seems the market has finished with that small technical adjustment over the past few days."

Equities had fallen the last two days amid valuation concerns and worries over growing Covid-19 outbreaks in India and other countries.

But investors took the drop as a cue to buy, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.9 per cent to 34,137.31.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.7 per cent to 4,173.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index surged 1.2 per cent to 13,950.22.

Among individual companies, Netflix dropped 7.4 per cent despite blowout earnings, as it projected lower-than-expected new subscribers.

Netflix executives said the slowing membership growth points to "big Covid-19 pull forward in 2020" and limitations to its programing due to pandemic-related production delays.

Intuitive Surgical jumped almost 10 per cent after reporting a 36 per cent increase in profits to US$426.3 million as demand for its robotic-assisted surgical systems rose.

CSX gained 4.3 per cent after the freight railroad company projected double-digit full-year revenue growth as the economic rebound accelerates.

AFP