US Wall Street surges on earnings optimism

The US share market finished session sharply higher on Tuesday, 19 July 2022, on optimism about upcoming earnings news, with a majority of the S&P 500 companies beating expectations so far this season. Market sentiments also underpinned after Federal Reserve officials have signaled they are likely to raise interest rates by 75 basis points at their next policy-setting meeting July 26 and 27 .

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index surged 754.44 points, or 2.43%, to 31,827.05. The S&P500 index was up 105.84 points, or 2.76%, to 3,936.69. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained by 353.10 points, or 3.11%, to 11,713.15.

All 11 major S&P sectors ended the session higher, with communication services (up3.63%), industrials (up 3.58%), energy (up 3.16%), and materials (up 3.1%) issues enjoyed largest percentage gains.

More than 70 S&P 500 companies are set to report results this week, including highly anticipated reports from names like Netflix, Tesla, and AT&T. So far, 43 S&P 500 companies have reported, with mega-cap banks like JPMorgan kicking off earnings season late last week. About 60% of the companies that have reported results so far beat profit and sales expectations.

Toymaker Hasbro (HAS) and oil services giant Halliburton (HAL) posted notable gains after reporting better than expected quarterly earnings.

On the other hand, shares of IBM Corp moved sharply lower after the tech giant reported better than expected second quarter results but trimmed its forecasts for free cash flow this year, citing currency headwinds and loss of business in Russia.

Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson also moved to the downside after cutting its full-year sales and profit outlook, pointing to the impact of a stronger U.S. dollar.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The Commerce Department housing data showed that new U.S. home-building activity fell 2% in June to an annual rate of 1.559 million after plunging by 11.9% to a revised rate of 1.591 million in May. The report showed building permits also fell by 0.6% to an annual rate of 1.685 million in June after tumbling by 7% to a rate of 1.695 million in May.

Among Indian ADR, ICICI Bank added 2.88% to $19.67, Tata Motors added 2.29% to $28.63, WNS Holdings added 1.7% to $79.04, Wipro added 2.57% to $5.19, INFOSYS added 1.5% to $18.71, and Azure Power Global added 2.4% to $11.82. HDFC Bank added 1.45% to $57.18 and Dr Reddy's Labs added 1.37% to $56.26.

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