US stocks rose, led by financials and technology after positive quarterly earnings reports boosted risk appetite and eased investors’ concerns about the credit quality of regional banks.
The broad market rally led all three major US indexes to close higher, while the Russell 2000 small-cap index outperformed its larger peers by up 2.0%.
Apple shares hit new highs, while Meta, Netflix and Alphabet each rose between 1.3% and 3.3%.
Upcoming results from regional US banks are expected to provide a clearer picture of the health of the sector, after last week’s sell-off driven by concerns about systemic credit stress.
Analysts now expect the S&P 500’s third-quarter earnings to rise 9.3% year-on-year, higher than the 8.8% estimate made on Oct. 1.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.12% to 46,706.58 points, the S&P 500 rose 1.07% to 6,735.13 points, while the technology-focused Nasdaq rose 1.37% to 22,990.54 points.
In other developments, the Labor Department is expected to release the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September on Friday at 8.30pm Malaysian time.
The release of the CPI data will provide important clues to the Federal Reserve (Fed) on the direction of inflation and the extent to which tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump are affecting consumer price growth.
In the US-China trade conflict, Trump has proposed reducing tariffs if Beijing resumes purchases of agricultural products such as soybeans, while pointing the finger at China over tensions over rare earth export controls.
Meanwhile, Boeing shares rose 1.8% after the company received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase production of the 737 MAX aircraft to 42 units per month.
WeightWatchers shares jumped 9.3% after the company announced a partnership with Amazon to deliver weight loss drugs.
Volume on the US exchange was $17.50 billion, compared to an average of $20.21 billion over the full 20 trading days.
