Dow jumps 600 points, Nasdaq pops 3% as tech leads comeback rally; European markets close higher on earnings; investors monitor Russian gas supplies 

 

Stocks roared back Thursday, following a strong earnings report from Meta Platforms, as the market sought to recover from this month’s sell-off. 

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 3.1% to 12,871.53. The S&P 500 gained 2.5% to 4,287.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 615 points, or 1.8%, at 33,916.26. 

 

Shares of Meta surged 17.5% following a beat on earnings, a sign that investors may see signs of relief in the beaten-up tech sector. Shares were down 48% on the year heading into the results. 

 

Qualcomm gained 9.7% on the back of strong earnings, while PayPal rose roughly 11.5% despite issuing weak guidance for the second quarter. 

Merck shares rose 4.9% and led gainers on the Dow after an earnings beat. McDonald’s, Eli Lilly and Southwest all closed higher Thursday after their quarterly reports. 

 

U.S. gross domestic product unexpectedly declined in the first quarter by 1.4% from the year prior, compared with the 1% growth expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. 

 

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed higher by 0.4%, with autos, travel and tech stocks leading gains as most sectors and major bourses finished in positive territory. Basic resources bucked the upward trend to shed 1.6%. 

 

Barclays beat earnings expectations on the back of a strong showing from its corporate and investment banking division due to market volatility in the first quarter, but said it had suspended its planned share buyback program on the back of a costly trading error in the U.S. The bank’s shares gained 3.2% by mid-afternoon. 

 

At the bottom of the European blue-chip index, Swedish cloud computing company Sinch plunged more than 21% after its quarterly results. 

Source: CNBC, Investing.com