Oct. 26 (UPI) — U.S. markets continued to hover around record highs on Tuesday amid another day of strong third-quarter earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 15.73 points, or 0.044%, to rise to a record for a third straight day, while the S&P 500 also hit an intraday record, gaining 0.18%. The Nasdaq Composite closed the day up 0.059%, about 1% short of a record close.
Shares of Facebook fell 3.92% after it turned in mixed earnings results after trading on Monday.
UPS stock rose 6.84% and General Electric stock gained 1.99%, while 3M stock fell 0.14% after all three posted better-than-expected earnings.
Tesla stock also closed the day down 0.63% after shooting up 12.66% after the electric carmaker’s market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion for the first time on Monday.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, gained 1.35% and Microsoft gained 0.64% during regular trading before both companies reported better-than-expected earnings after the bell.
Alphabet reported $53.62 billion in revenue and $27.99 earnings per share, both exceeding analysts’ expectations, with search presenting the greatest amount of growth, expanding 44% to draw in $37.9 billion in revenue in the third quarter.
Microsoft reported revenue of $45.3 billion as cloud sales increased almost $4 billion along with earnings of $2.27 per share.
Nearly 30% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings and more than 80% have exceeded Wall Street expectations, according to CNBC.
Risk appetite remains on the table for U.S. equities,” said Craig Johnson, Piper Sandler’s chief market technician. “Corporate earnings have been the key catalyst behind the recent record-high rally as robust demand continues to offset well-known supply constraints and pricing pressures.”
