The three major indices of the New York Stock Exchange hit their highest in 15 months.
It is analysed that the favourable second quarter earnings of large companies had a positive effect on investor sentiment amid growing expectations for a soft landing for the economy.
Dow rose for a seventh straight trading day, marking the longest run since March 2021. The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 index closed at 4,554.98, up 32.19 points (0.71%), and the Nasdaq index, which is centred on technology stocks, rose 108.69 points (0.76%) at 14,353.64, respectively.
Based on the closing price on this day, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq are all at their highest levels since April of last year. Analysts say that the refreshing start of the second quarter earnings season stimulated investors’ buying sentiment. According to FactSet, a financial information company, 84% of S&P 500 companies that have released second-quarter results so far have exceeded Wall Street analysts’ forecasts for net profit.
On the 14th, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup followed by Bank of America and Morgan Stanley on the same day, the ‘Earning Surprise’ of large financial companies raised the overall market mood.
Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the United States, recorded a net profit (19%) and sales (11%) by a large margin, recording earnings per share ($0.88), exceeding the Wall Street forecast ($0.84), and its stock price soared 4.4% that day.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley, which also posted profits that exceeded market expectations, also surged 6.5%. The impact of the artificial intelligence (AI) craze also remained. Microsoft (MS), which set the usage fee of ‘MS 365 Co-Pilot’ equipped with AI higher than the market expected, soared 4.0%.