Dow Pumped on Energy, Earnings; Yellen Calls for More Stimulus By Investing.com

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The Dow rose Tuesday on better-than-expected quarterly results and growing optimism that more stimulus is about to hit bank accounts under President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.57%, or 175 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.94%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.49%.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) reported fourth-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates, but it shares slipped more than 1%. While Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) reported mixed results as revenue missed analysts estimates, the bank announced a $2.9 billion stock buyback program.

Elsewhere in financials, American Express (NYSE:AXP) rose more than 4% after JPMOrgan upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral on expectations for a rebound in consumer spending.

In energy, Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) fell less than 1% despite reporting fourth-quarter earnings of $0.18 and revenue of $3.24 billion that topped analysts estimates.

Still, the broader energy sector remained well supported by rising oil prices on optimism further stimulus from the incoming Biden administration will boost demand.

Former Federal Chairwoman Janet Yellen in her confirmation hearing as Treasury Secretary called on lawmakers in Congress to “act big” and support further stimulus to boost the economic recovery.   On the political front, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol earlier this month was provoked by President Donald Trump. The comments come ahead of the Senate’s Trump impeachment trial.

Tech, meanwhile, also played a role in the intraday rally as the Fab 5 racked up gains after JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) told investors in a note that it was time to return to big tech.   

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were higher.

In other news, General Motors (NYSE:GM) said Microsoft was investing in Cruise, its autonomous vehicle project, sending its shares up 9%. Under the deal, Microsoft would be the preferred cloud provider for Cruise and General Motors.