- US stocks moved higher on Wednesday as investors digest mixed earnings from mega-cap tech.
- Microsoft jumped 4% after it beat its earnings estimates, while Alphabet dropped 4% after missing its estimates.
- Of the 155 companies that have reported earnings so far, overall results are beating estimates by a median of 7%.
US stocks opened higher on Wednesday after falling more than 2% on Tuesday, as investors continue to digest a slew of first-quarter earnings results.
Mega-cap tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet reported mixed first-quarter results, with Microsoft beating estimates while Alphabet missed estimates. Shares of Microsoft were up about 4% on Wednesday, while Alphabet sold off about 4%.
Investors now await earnings results from Amazon, Apple, and Meta Platforms, which are set to be released after the bell on Wednesday.
Of the 155 companies that have reported earnings results so far, which represents 31% of the S&P 500, overall results are beating income estimates by a median of 7%, according to data from Fundstrat. On the top line, overall results are beating revenue estimates by a median of 3%.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 4,187.92, up 0.3%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,416.36, up 0.53% (176.18 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 12,538.36, up 0.37%
Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang was arrested on Wednesday and charged by the Justice Department with securities fraud, wire fraud, and racketeering conspiracy. According to charging documents, Hwang was able to increase the leverage of Archegos to $160 billion from $10 billion by deceiving various banks.
European gas prices surged as much as 28% on Wednesday after Russia halted supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, stoking concern that other countries in the continent could be targeted for their support towards Ukraine.
Robinhood stock fell 4% after the company said it would cut 9% of its work force. Robinhood explained that after it experienced hypergrowth last year, it overhired and had jobs with overlapping responsibilities.
Tesla stock erased $126 billion in its market capitalization on Tuesday, with the stock plunging 12%. The move lower came just one day after Tesla's Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell as much as much as 0.82% to $100.87 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, fell as much as 0.61% to $104.35.
Bitcoin rose 1.50% to $38,926. Ether prices rose 1.16% to $2,868.
Gold fell as much as 0.37% to $1,897.10 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury added two basis points to 2.75%.