The US markets ended the Tuesday’s trade on an optimistic note with all the major indices garnering a gain of over two percentage points. The rally on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from several big-name companies, with financial giants Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) reporting third quarter results that beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Buying interest was generated following the release of positive economic data, including a report from the Federal Reserve showing industrial production increased in line with economist estimates in September. The report said industrial production rose by 0.3 percent in September after climbing by 0.4 percent in August. The continued increase in production matched expectations. The Fed said output growth in September was held down slightly by Hurricane Florence but noted the estimated negative effect was less than 0.1 percentage points. A separate report from the National Association of Home Builders showed an unexpected uptick in homebuilder confidence in the month of October. The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index inched up to 68 in October from 67 in September. Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged.
S&P 500 surged 59.13 points or 2.15 percent to 2,809.92, Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 547.87 points or 2.17 percent to 25,798.42 and Nasdaq was up by 214.74 points or 2.89 percent to 7,645.49.
