Stocks rally on mostly positive earnings, snapping 3-day losing streak for S&P 500, Nasdaq; European stocks close mixed after inflation data; ECB meeting on horizon 
Stocks rallied on Wednesday as the corporate earnings season kicked off with mostly positive results, and traders looked past surging inflation numbers. 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 344.23 points, or 1.01%, to 34,564.59, accelerating gains in the final hour of trading. The S&P 500 gained 1.12% to 4,446.59, and the Nasdaq Composite rallied 2.03% to 13,643.59. Those moves come after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted their third straight losing session on Tuesday amid March’s CPI showing the highest inflation since 1981. 
Wednesday’s moves come as corporate earnings figure more prominently for investors, who are carefully monitoring for clues on how well companies are managing inflationary pressures. Fastenal and Delta Air Lines traded higher on the back of better-than-expected quarterly results. Delta also got a boost after the airline said it expects to return to profitability this quarter. 
To be sure, shares of JPMorgan Chase fell 3.2% after the banking giant reported a $524 million hit caused by market dislocations due to sanctions against Russia. The bank also posted a 42% decline in first-quarter profits. JPMorgan did manage, however, to report $31.59 billion in revenue for the period, slightly more than expected by analysts. 
Meanwhile, PayPal shares dropped nearly 2.9% following an announcement from Walmart, which said Tuesday it hired PayPal executive John Rainey as its new chief financial officer. 

The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally ended down 0.1%, with food and beverages stocks dipping 0.7% to lead losses. 
In terms of individual share price movement, Britain’s largest retailer Tesco fell 2% after warning of a fall in full-year profit for 2022 caused by tough U.K. economic conditions. 
German potash and salt miner K+S jumped 5% after hiking its profit forecast on higher potash prices. 
Source: CNBC, Investing.com