The S&P 500 hit an intra-day record high on Thursday (US time), fuelled by gains in Facebook following its strong earnings report, while investors awaited upcoming results from Amazon.
Facebook jumped over 6 per cent to an all-time high after beating market expectations for quarterly revenue and profit late on Wednesday, helped by a surge in digital ad spending during the pandemic and higher ad prices.
Wall Street is up in late trade.Credit:NYSE
In late trade, the Dow Jones is up 0.5 per cent, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.5 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.1 per cent. Despite the positive lead, the Australian sharemarket is set toi dip lower, with futures at 5.08am AEST pointing to a slide of 11 points, or 0.2 per cent, at the open.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose, with the communication services index jumping 2.6 per cent, boosted by Facebook and 1.6 per cent rise in Alphabet.
Apple climbed 0.5 per cent after late on Wednesday posting sales and profit ahead of Wall Street estimates on strong iPhone and Mac sales.
Amazon was up 0.3 per cent ahead of its quarterly report after the bell, with investors looking for signs of how the online retailer will be affected as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Investors are really looking for significantly outsized results, and also outsized guidance as they look ahead to upcoming quarters,” said Greg Bassuk, chief executive of AXS Investments. “We believe a lot of optimism has already been baked into the market, and we are cautioning investors to expect significant volatility.”
Of the 265 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, 87 per cent have topped analysts’ earnings estimates, with Refinitiv IBES data now predicting a 45 per cent jump in profit growth.
US economic growth accelerated in the first quarter, fuelled by massive government aid to households and businesses, while a labor market report showed 553,000 people filed for unemployment benefits last week, compared with 566,000 in the prior period.
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