Stocks in the United States opened Thursday’s session higher driven by the heightened earnings from tech firms.
The S&P 500 was pulled up by a good performance from its information and technology sector; however the energy didn’t do well. The sector was lower by 1 percent along with the oil prices slumping more than 2 percent on worries over glut. The index added 1.32 points at 2,388.77.
Still the S&P 500 along with the Dow Jones Industrial had a hard time gaining; meanwhile the NASDAQ composite settled higher, also due to its tech stocks. Amazon, PayPal and Comcast in particular are the leading advancers of NASDAQ. Dow gained 6.24 points at 2,388.77 and NASDAQ finished 23.71 points higher at 6,048.94.
Comcast released unexpectedly higher quarterly earnings by 53 cents per share. The revenue of this NBC Universal parent also beats expectations. They also gained more than 5 percent in shares, notching an all-time high since February 3 last year.
Technology had always been a main factor of the growth trades in the markets of United States so far this 2017.
CFRA’s investment strategist Lindsey Bell noted to its clients last Thursday that while the summer driving season has supported the highs of oil prices, the levels of the domestic stockpiles remained higher. She added that they are continuously bothered to get anticipated for higher oil price on a 2 percent GDP growth environment, after the U.S. output remains to elevate and the rig count grows.
Despite the positivity of U.S. stocks on Thursday, major indexes settled lower the day before, as it was holding within 1 percent of their intraday highs on the back of President Donald Trump’s announcement about a tax reform.