US stocks lifted by strong earnings

Wall Street stocks pushed solidly higher early yesterday following a round of strong earnings from Netflix, Goldman Sachs and others.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 24,796.73, up 0.9 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.7 per cent to 2,696.43, while the techrich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1 per cent to 7,224.87.

Investors have been eyeing the first-quarter earnings season as a potential catalyst for stocks amid lingering worries the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates too quickly and that President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Chinese trade actions could lead to a trade war.

But the strong earnings yesterday helped investors overlook those fears, despite a fresh report late Monday that the Trump administration is examining new actions in response to China’s restrictions on US technology companies.

“A few weeks ago, that type of headline would have forced a downdraft in the futures market, but that hasn’t happened today,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

Netflix surged 6.5 per cent after announcing it added 7.4 million new subscribers in the past quarter as net income grew 63 per cent to $290 million (Dh1.65 billion).

Goldman Sachs climbed 0.5 per cent after reporting a 26.6 per cent rise in firstquarter earnings to $2.7 billion following a solid performance in several key investment and trading divisions.