© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A Wall Street sign is pictured outside the New York Stock Exchange in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., April 16, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Sruthi Shankar
(Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as a slew of upbeat earnings from companies including Tesla (NASDAQ:) outweighed concerns about aggressive interest rates hikes that have kept bond yields elevated.
The world’s most valuable automaker jumped 9% after its results beat Wall Street expectations as higher prices helped it overcome supply-chain chaos and rising costs.
United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:) Inc and American Airlines (NASDAQ:) Group Inc surged 11.8% and 7.7%, respectively, after they predicted a return to profit in the current quarter due to booming travel demand.
The wider S&P 1500 Airlines Index jumped 6.3% to its highest level since mid-November.
The gains follow a sharp decline in U.S. stocks on Wednesday after Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:) reported subscriber loss for the first time in a decade, triggering a selloff in technology and growth stocks.
“Earnings have been a mixed big so far, obviously you saw the disappointment with Netflix. We’re probably going to go back and forth on a day-to-day basis,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
“People are still looking at the bond market and the Fed policy over the longer term, it’s not just earnings.”
Investors will focus on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech later in the day for clues on monetary policy tightening plans, with many expecting the U.S. central bank to raise rates by 50 basis points to control soaring inflation.
U.S. Treasury yields rose, with two-year yields hitting their highest in three years. [US/]
Meanwhile, data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell moderately last week, suggesting that April was another month of strong job growth.
At 10:32 a.m. ET, the was up 252.44 points, or 0.72%, at 35,413.23, the was up 39.61 points, or 0.89%, at 4,499.06, and the was up 154.41 points, or 1.15%, at 13,607.47.
Growth-oriented sectors like communication services, consumer discretionary and technology rose between 0.4% and 2% in early trading, recovering from Wednesday’s selloff.
However, Neflix fell 4.7%, adding to 35% plunge in the previous session, as billionaire investor William Ackman liquidated a $1.1 billion bet on the streaming giant after its results.
Overall, analysts expect S&P 500 earnings growth of 6.5% in the first quarter as of Wednesday, compared with the 32.1% rise in the fourth quarter, according to Refinitiv data.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.60-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.19-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 65 new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 56 new highs and 129 new lows.
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