Dow jumps 470 points, posts best day since November as the GameStop trading mania unwinds; European stocks close higher on recovery hopes; GameStop jitters ebb; BP down 4.5%
U.S. stocks jumped on Tuesday, building on a strong rally in the previous session as concerns about a speculative retail trading frenzy continued to ease.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed about 475.57 points, or 1.6%, to 30,687.48 for its best daily performance since November. The S&P 500 gained 1.4% to 3,826.31, pushing its two-day rally to 3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite popped 1.6% to 13,612.78, bringing its week-to-date gains to more than 4%.
Alphabet is jumping postmarket (GOOG +6.1%, GOOGL +6.4%) after easily surpassing fourth-quarter earnings expectations with a quarter showing a healthy rebound in ad spending and broad revenue gains companywide.
European stocks closed higher on Tuesday amid investor optimism for a post-pandemic recovery, while fears over a speculative retail trading frenzy in the U.S. waned. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended Tuesday’s session up by 1.3%, with travel and leisure shares climbing 3.2% to lead gains as all sectors apart from basic resources and telecoms held in positive territory.
On the data front, the euro zone economy dropped by 0.7% in the final quarter of 2020 as governments stepped up social restrictions, Eurostat revealed on Tuesday, while a preliminary reading points to an annual GDP contraction of 6.8%.
Earnings remain on the radar, with energy giant BP on Tuesday reporting a weaker-than-expected full-year net loss, its first for a decade, after a tumultuous 12 months for the oil and gas industry. BP shares were down 4.5% by the close.
Fresenius Medical Care tumbled 10.3% to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 after cutting its profit guidance, taking major shareholder Fresenius down 3.1%.
Source: CNBC