· The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rallied on Tuesday to notch record closing highs as Wall Street cheered stronger-than-expected quarterly profits from some of the largest publicly traded U.S. companies.
The broad index closed 0.9% higher at 2,933.68, topping its previous record close of 2,930.75. The S&P 500 also ended the day just below its intraday record of 2,940.91. The Nasdaq closed up 1.3% at 8,120.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, gained 145.34 points to close at 26,656.39 and was 1.1% from an all-time high.
Dow members Coca-Cola and United Technologies reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday. Their shares rose 1.7% and 2.3%, respectively.
Twitter shares jumped 15.6% on its stronger-than-expected results. The social media company said its monthly active users totaled 330 million, more than a FactSet estimate of 318 million.
· Equity markets in Europe closed a tough higher on Tuesday afternoon, as investors monitored a number of geopolitical issues and looked ahead to a new earnings season.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 crept into positive territory during afternoon deals, paring earlier losses,and finishing provisionally 0.25 percent higher. Banking stocks led the losses, down more than 1% ahead of earnings announcements from large financial firms this week.
Oil and gas stocks surged by over 2.2% on the back of the news that the U.S. will end all waivers on sanctions against Iranian oil imports. This has driven oil prices higher with the commodity nearing 2019 highs on Tuesday. Higher oil prices also led to a sell-off in airline stocks across Europe on Tuesday. Air France-KLM was the worst example, slipping almost 6 percent.
· Stocks in Asia mostly traded higher on Wednesday morning after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed in record high territory overnight on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.24% in early trade, with shares of index heavyweights Fast Retailing, Softbank Group and Fanuc rising. The Topix index also added 0.11 percent.
Nissan Motor saw its stock drop more than 2.5% after Reuters reported, citing Japanese media, that the company was set to slash its earnings outlook for the fiscal year that ended in March.
Meanwhile, Australia’s ASX 200 added 0.6% to touch more than 10-year highs as the sectors mostly advanced.
In South Korea, the Kospi declined fractionally, with Hyundai Motor seeing its stock jump more than 1.8%.
Reference: CNBC
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