Tech shares lift US markets as company earnings reports come in

A tech rally pushed Wall Street higher on Tuesday as third-quarter reporting season gained momentum and oil prices eased. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.14 percent and the S&P 500 gained 0.57 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average remained flat. Chip stocks received a boost from details surrounding Anthropic's upcoming initial public offering. Economic data showed rising new orders for computers and peripheral equipment, pointing to continued spending on artificial intelligence. Meta increased its largest-ever equity fundraising to $97.5 billion to fund its AI expansion, which sent its shares down 1.2 percent. Matthew Keator, managing partner at the Keator Group in Lenox, Massachusetts, noted that while AI initial public offerings generate buzz, there are some signs of companies pulling back on future spending. Nearly half of S&P 500 companies have reported third-quarter results, with 83 percent of them beating expectations according to LSEG data. Individual stocks saw sharp moves based on their earnings. Boeing dropped 9.7 percent after reporting a bigger-than-expected third-quarter loss. Water-management company Xylem fell 12.4 percent after trimming its full-year forecasts, and Sherwin-Williams dropped 2.3 percent following a quarterly profit miss. On the other hand, cruise operator Royal Caribbean rose 6.5 percent after raising its full-year profit forecast. The Federal Reserve started its October monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. The central bank is widely expected to keep the fed funds target rate on hold in the 3.75 percent to 4 percent range, according to CME's FedWatch tool. Technology shares led the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, while energy shares suffered the steepest decline as crude prices eased.

Context

Stock markets often react strongly to corporate earnings reports and announcements from central banks about interest rates. Major indexes track the overall health of the stock market by following the performance of leading companies across different sectors.