S&P 500 gains as investors digest positive earnings, megacap results outlook

Benchmark S&P 500 SPX rose on Tuesday following positive earnings from top-tier companies and as investors were focused on quarterly results from Magnificent Seven and other megacap growth stocks.

Tesla TSLA kicks off the earnings cycle for technology heavyweights after markets close on Tuesday. That will be followed by results from other tech majors, including Microsoft MSFT, Alphabet GOOG, and Meta Platforms META, later this week.

Markets were also buoyed by upbeat earnings from companies such as General Motors GM, which was up 5.2% after the automaker's better-than-expected quarterly results.

Ten out of 11 S&P 500 sectors were advancing led by gains in equities in communication services S5TELS and technology S5INFT sectors. The S&P Materials sector S5MATR was trading lower dragged by steelmaker Nucor Corp NUE, which was down nearly 7% after a first-quarter earnings miss.

"We're having a continuation of an oversold balance that started yesterday and the catalyst today is that markets are now refocused on earnings reports across a wide array of sectors that were strong," said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services in Atlanta.

At 03:05 p.m., the S&P 500 SPX gained 57.76 points, or 1.15%, to 5,068.36 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC gained 251.90 points, or 1.63%, to 15,703.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 248.61 points, or 0.65%, to 38,488.59.

Data on Tuesday showed that U.S. business activity cooled in April to a four-month low due to weaker demand, while rates of inflation eased slightly even as input prices rose sharply, suggesting possible relief ahead for rising consumer prices.

Investors will be eyeing the release of the March Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index - the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge - which is due on Friday.

Money markets are now pricing in just about 43 basis points of interest-rate cuts, down from about 150 bps seen at the start of the year, according to LSEG data.

"The PMI report was a little bit weaker and the employment was a little bit weaker and the market at this point is taking that is a bad-news-there-is-good-news, meaning the people are becoming too hawkish on Fed expectations," Lerner added.

Spotify SPOT surged 14% after the Swedish music streaming giant posted gross profit topped 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) for the first time.

Bullish full-year profit forecast helped to lift GE Aerospace GE shares by nearly 7%. Danaher DHR gained 7.5% after the life sciences firm beat quarterly profit and sales expectations.

Shares of JetBlue JBLU plunged 17% as the low-cost carrier trimmed its annual revenue forecast following lukewarm first-quarter revenue.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 6.17-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 77 new highs and 25 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 3,166 stocks rose and 961 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.29-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq recorded 48 new highs and 76 new lows.