US stocks largely gain as investors look past grim Netflix results to next wave of big tech earnings
- Stocks mostly rose Wednesday, with the S&P 500 in line for a second straight win.
- Netflix shares plunged after an unexpected loss of 200,000 subscribers in Q1.
US stocks mostly edged higher Wednesday as investors cheered positive corporate earnings and look ahead to more big reports.
Dow industrials IBM and Procter & Gamble advanced following their respective earnings reports. And on deck late Wednesday will be Tesla's earnings report.
The Nasdaq Composite, home to large-cap tech stocks, was essentially flat, even as Netflix shares plunged after the company late Tuesday said it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter and forecast the loss of 2 million more. Other streaming services were pulled down as well, including Disney and Roku.
"The stock market is bouncing off of the 4,400 S&P support level as we head into the peak of earnings season," said Jay Hatfield, chief investment officer at Infrastructure Capital Management, in a note to Insider. "Investors are optimistic about earnings prospects for large capitalization tech stocks as AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL and MSFT are reporting next week," he said.
Here's where US indexes stood at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 4,481.21, up 0.43%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,225.08, up 0.90% (313.88 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 13,616.93, down 0.02%
"We see significant resistance at the S&P 4,600 level as the overhang of hawkish Fed policy including quantitative tightening looms," said Hatfield.
Around the markets, "The Big Short" author and investor Michael Burry warned Tesla's rivals would catch up with the electric-vehicle maker, just as Netflix's competitors are curbing its growth.
Oil prices advanced after tumbling on Tuesday. West Texas Intermediate crude picked up 0.8% to $103.41 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.8% to $108.13.
Gold fell 0.4% to $1,951.70 per ounce. The 10-year yield fell 5 basis points to 2.89%.
Bitcoin moved up 1.8% at $42,035.85.