camila October 6, 2021

NEW YORK (AFP) – Wall Street stocks rebounded on Tuesday (Oct 5) following the prior session’s pullback as uncertainty over Washington politics and the upcoming earnings season stokes volatility.

Of the major indices, the biggest gainer was the tech-rich Nasdaq, which led the market lower on Monday.

Conflict in Congress has raised worries about a possible US debt default, while President Joe Biden’s agenda hangs in the balance.

Data showed the US services sector grew slightly more than expected in September, while PepsiCo’s results also topped estimates. The strong earnings contrasted with some other recent results disappointments.

“We will see more of this in the next couple weeks,” Maris Ogg of Tower Bridge Advisors predicted of the upcoming earnings season.

“We are going to get some pre-announcements and swing from everything is okay to everything is not okay for the next couple of weeks.”

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 34,314.67, up 0.9 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 1.1 per cent at 4,345.73, while the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.3 per cent to 14,433.83.

After tanking on Monday, large tech shares enjoyed a much better session, with Apple and Google parent Alphabet climbing above 1 per cent while Netflix gained more than 5 per cent.

Facebook also advanced, winning 2.1 per cent even as whistleblower Frances Haugen blasted the company’s conduct during a withering congressional hearing that bolstered talk of new regulation.

PepsiCo gained 0.6 per cent as it lifted its full-year forecast following better-than-expected profits.

Petroleum-linked companies continued to rally on higher energy prices, with Marathon Oil and Devon Energy both jumping more than 3 per cent.

Big Tech roars on Wall Street