S&P hits new record as Amazon reports profits

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Tech names were in the driver’s seat, with Facebook shares soaring 7% to record territory.
AFP via Getty Images
All three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Thursday, after strong results from tech names like Apple, Facebook and Nokia failed to lift markets earlier today. Investors were also absorbing a speech by President Joe Biden.
the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
gained 240 points, or 0.71%, while the
S&P 500
rose 0.68% to a new high and
Nasdaq Composite
increased 0.22%.
Amazon
(ticker: AMZN) posted explosive profits shortly after the closing bell, but only rose 0.4% in regular trading.
Hong Kong
Hang Seng
and China
CSI 300
increased by about 0.8% each. the
Stoxx Europe 600 Index
fell 0.3%, on a heavy income day, after a surprise jump in jobless claims in Germany.
Investors were also absorbing Biden’s speech to Congress Wednesday night, where he proposed a sweeping $ 1.8 trillion spending plan for child care, education and paid family leave, to be funded by tax hikes on wealthy Americans. He also said he was not happy with the current unemployment rate of 6%, with the word “jobs” appearing more than 40 times in his prepared text.
The economy remained concentrated on Thursday, with weekly jobless claims falling to 553,000, a new pandemic low. Gross domestic product rose 6.4% in the first quarter, below expectations of 6.5%. Still, bond yields rose to 1.662%.
The names of the technicians were in the driver’s seat, with
Facebook
(ticker: FB) shares soar 7.3% to record territory after the social media giant greatly exceeded Wall Street expectations for profits and revenues. The number of daily and monthly users of the company has also grown faster than expected.
Actions of
Apple
(AAPL) fell 0.075% as second-quarter tax income jumped 54% and earnings hit $ 1.40 per share, crushing Wall Street estimates. The iPhone maker has also boosted share buybacks and increased its dividend.
Actions of
Qualcomm
(QCOM) climbed 4.5% as strong sales of 5G hardware boosted profits and the mobile chip maker forecast another bullish quarter.
But
Ford
(F) shares fell 9.5% despite an upside surprise in earnings as a growing global semiconductor shortage caused the automaker to cut annual profits.
caterpillar
(CAT) slipped 2% after reporting earnings of $ 2.87 per share, beating expectations of $ 1.94 per share, on sales of $ 11.9 billion, ahead of expectations of 10 , $ 9 billion.
Mcdonalds
(ticker: MCD) rose 1.2% after reporting first-quarter profit of $ 1.54 billion, or $ 2.05 per share, from $ 1.47 a year ago.
Truth
(VER) increased by 16% after
Real estate income
(O) said he would acquire the company for $ 11 billion.
Actions of
Norwegian Cruise Line
(NCLH),
Carnival
(CCL), and
Royal Caribbean Group
(RCL) rose 0.26%, 2.1% and 2.9%, respectively. The Center for Disease Control said cruise lines can start sailing this summer, which helped lift all three stocks early. Royal Caribbean also reported a lower than expected loss.
Meanwhile, US-listed stocks of
Nokia
jumped 11%, matching gains overseas as the Finnish telecommunications equipment maker reported better-than-expected results, boosted by 5G growth and stuck to its 2021 and 2023 outlook The company said it was delivering products to customers despite a global chip shortage.
As for the major oil producers, the United Kingdom
Royal Dutch Shell
and from France
Total
both produced good results, increasing the shares of each by more than 1%.
Write to Jacob Sonenshine at [email protected]