US markets end higher on Tuesday

20 Apr 2022 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Tuesday regaining ground following recent weakness. The rally on markets have partly reflected bargain hunting after the modest drop seen on Monday dragged the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 down to their lowest closing levels in a month. Traders also reacted positively to some of the latest earnings news, with Hasbro posting a strong gain after the toy maker reported first quarter earnings that missed street estimates but raised its full-year profit forecast. Shares of Johnson & Johnson also showed a strong move to the upside after the healthcare giant reported better than expected first quarter earnings. On the sectoral front, Housing stocks moved sharply higher following the upbeat housing starts data, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 3.4 percent. Substantial strength was also visible among airline stocks, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 3.2 percent to its best closing level in almost two months.

On the economic data front, new residential construction in the U.S. expectedly saw modest growth in the month of March, according to a report released by the Commerce Department. The report showed housing starts rose by 0.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.793 million in March after spiking by 6.5 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 1.788 million in February. The uptick surprised participants, who had expected housing starts to fall by 1.4 percent to a rate of 1.745 million from the 1.769 million originally reported for the previous month. With the unexpected growth, housing starts once again reached their highest annual rate since hitting 1.802 million in June of 2006. The modest increase in housing starts came as multi-family starts soared by 4.6 percent to a rate of 593,000, more than offsetting a 1.7 percent drop in single-family starts to a rate of 1.200 million.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 499.51 points or 1.45 percent to 34,911.2, Nasdaq rose 287.3 points or 2.15 percent to 13,619.66 and S&P 500 was up by 70.52 points or 1.61 percent to 4,462.21.

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