Stocks rebound to best day in weeks
NEW YORK >> Wall Street burst out of its hangover Thursday, and U.S. stocks bounced back in a widespread rally following their worst day since September.
The S&P 500 gained 1.2% to recover three quarters of its sharp loss from the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 369 points, or 1%, while the Nasdaq composite leaped 1.3%.
Big Tech stocks led the way in a mirror reversal of the day before, when Alphabet and Microsoft sank despite reporting stronger profits than analysts expected. Microsoft climbed 1.6% a day after falling 2.7%. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, added 0.8% after tumbling 7.5%
Big Tech stocks are Wall Street’s most influential because they’re the biggest, and they’re facing high expectations after soaring much more than the rest of the market last year. Amazon, Apple and Meta Platforms reported their latest results after trading ended Thursday and faced similar pressure to deliver big numbers to justify their runs higher.
Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, was a star in afterhours trading. It surged after topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue and saying it would start paying its shareholders a dividend.
Stocks broadly got a boost following a suite of reports suggesting the economy remains solid, while pressures on inflation may be easing. Such data could give the Federal Reserve more of the evidence it wants of a slowdown in inflation before it will deliver the cuts to interest rates that investors crave. A day earlier, stocks fell sharply after the Fed’s chair warned it doesn’t have enough such evidence
On the losing end of Wall Street, New York Community Bancorp fell another 11.1% after plunging 37.7% a day before, when it reported a loss for its latest quarter and cut its dividend to build its financial strength. The surprising report caused stocks of other regional banks to tumble, reviving uncomfortable memories of the banking crisis last year that led to the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and others.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 60.54 points to 4,906.19. The Dow added 369.54 to 38,519.84, and the Nasdaq rallied 197.63 to 15,361.64.