by Noel Randewich
NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply higher on Wednesday as strong earnings forecasts from Paypal and CVS Health boosted investor confidence and helped lift the Nasdaq to an all-time high. may.
The Dow Jones index gained 1.29% to 32,812.50 points.
The broader S&P-500 gained 1.56% to 4,155.12 points.
The Nasdaq Composite advanced for its part by 2.59%, to 12,668.16 points.
A survey released today shows that activity in the services sector in the United States unexpectedly rebounded in July, driven by growth in orders and the lesser impact of bottlenecks and inflationary pressures.
These data tend to reinforce the hypothesis that the American economy is not in recession, despite industrial production falling sharply during the first half of the year.
The generally better-than-expected earnings season continued positively with companies including PayPal and CVS Health helping to boost investor sentiment.
Wall Street recently posted losses amid concerns about soaring inflation, rising interest rates and a slowing economy.
“We’re seeing a lot of better than feared results, and that’s good enough for now,” said Sahak Manuelian, trading director at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
He also attributed this rebound on Wall Street to the growing idea among investors that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) has carried out most of the tightening of its monetary policy to fight inflation.
The number of new orders for U.S.-made goods rose solidly in June, data showed on the day, and companies invested more than expected in equipment, underscoring the resilience of the manufacturing sector.
Ten of the eleven major sectors of the S&P-500 rose, led by information technology.
On the stock side, the technological giants Apple and Amazon rose by almost 4%, and Meta by 5.4%.
PayPal soared nearly 10% after it raised its full-year profit forecast and said activist investor Elliott Management had a stake of more than $2 billion.
CVS Health gained 6.3% on the release of strong quarterly results and revised guidance.
Moderna jumped about 16% in the wake of the announcement of a share buyback program.
* TO BE FOLLOWED ON THURSDAY:
(French version Jean Terzian)