U.S. Stocks Rise As More Big Companies Report Solid Earnings
Newsy
Oil prices are steady after the OPEC oil cartel and its allies decided to boost production in September by a much slower pace than in previous months.
Stocks rose in afternoon trading on Wall Street Wednesday as investors reviewed another, mostly encouraging, batch of earnings from several big companies.
The S&P 500 rose 1.3% as of 12:01 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 330 points, or 1%, to 32,732 and the Nasdaq rose 2.1%. The gains helped indexes recover most of this week's losses. Technology companies, retailers and communications companies were some of the biggest winners. Sectors considered less risky, such as utilities and consumer goods makers, lagged the broader market.
Wall Street also received a surprisingly good report on a key part of the economy. The services sector, which makes up the bulk of the U.S. economy, unexpectedly grew in July, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
