US stocks rise amid earnings, mixed data

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IANS | 06 Aug, 2020
US stocks rallied on Wednesday as investors pored through a batch of earnings reports and economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 373.05 points, or 1.39 per cent, to close at 27,201.52. The S&P 500 was up 21.26 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 3,327.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 57.23 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 10,998.40, Xinhua reported.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended higher, with industrials up 1.97 per cent, outpacing the rest. Utilities slid 1.25 per cent, the worst-performing group.

US-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher, with eight of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P US Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note.

On the corporate side, Disney shares surged 8.8 per cent on its better-than-expected earnings. The US media powerhouse reported quarterly results after Tuesday's close, with a profit of 8 cents per share, exceeding Wall Street expectations. The company also revealed it has crossed the 100 million subscriber number.

Johnson & Johnson announced it struck a deal with the US government to manufacture 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate. The stock rose 0.8 per cent.

On the data front, US private sector employment increased by 167,000 jobs in July, US payroll data company Automatic Data Processing reported on Wednesday.

The reading was far below forecasts from economists surveyed by Econoday who expected a gain of 1.9 million jobs.

Meanwhile, economic activity in the US services sector grew last month, according to a report by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

The Services PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) rose to 58.1 per cent in July from the June reading of 57.1 per cent, said the ISM. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a print of 55 per cent.