FX.co ★ Stocks Close On Firm Note For 2nd Straight Day On Earnings Hopes

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks closed strongly, continuing their gains from the previous session, with tech shares leading among other sectors, due to positive expectations around earnings. Rising sentiment was fueled by encouraging earnings updates and a slight easing of concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

The main averages all closed significantly higher. The Dow gained 263.71 points or 0.69 percent, closing at 38,503.69, while the S&P 500 advanced by 59.95 points or 1.2 percent to 5,070.55 and the Nasdaq added 245.33 points or 1.59 percent, finishing at 15,696.64.

Several tech giants, including Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms, are set to announce their quarterly earnings this week. Other notable firms, such as Boeing, Intel, American Airlines, Chevron, and Exxon Mobil, are also expected to report their quarterly earnings.

Shares of Verizon increased about 3.5 percent, whereas those of American Express grew 2.5 percent. Stocks of Caterpillar, Goldman Sachs, Walt Disney, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, and IBM performed well too, rising between 1.3 to 2 percent. Netflix, Palo Alto Networks, Nvidia, Illumina, Moderna, and Microchip Technology also closed significantly higher.

After the closing bell, Tesla Inc. reported its total earnings of $1.13 billion, or $0.34 per share in the first quarter, in comparison to $2.51 billion, or $0.73 per share, in last year's first quarter. After adjusting for certain items, Tesla Inc.'s earnings stood at $1.54 billion or $0.45 per share for the period.

Among the top gainers in the S&P 500 index was Globe Life, soaring 13.5 percent. Danaher and GE Aerospace saw a surge due to strong results. Kimberly-Clark and General Motors also ended significantly higher.

On the other hand, Walmart saw a decrease of 2.3 percent, while Boeing dropped almost 1 percent. Invesco and Pepsico also closed substantially lower, with the latter being impacted by slightly disappointing quarterly results.

In economic news, the S&P Global US Composite PMI fell to 50.9 in April, indicating only a slight expansion in the country's private sector, the weakest since December. New home sales spiked by 8.8 percent to an annual rate of 693,000 in March, outperforming economists' expectations.

The market now awaits more economic data this week, including the release of first-quarter U.S. GDP data and the core personal-consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation.

In international trading, Asian and European stock markets had a mixed performance on Tuesday. The major European markets closed higher. Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $1.46 or 1.78% at $83.36 a barrel while gold futures for April ended down by $4.50 or about 0.19% at $2,327.70 an ounce. Concerning the currency front, the U.S. dollar traded at 154.82 yen and 1.0704 against the euro.