US markets end higher on Wednesday

22 Dec 2022 Evaluate

The US markets settled higher on Wednesday after upbeat earnings reports from two bellwethers raised hopes that corporate earnings may be better than feared even with a potential recession. Nike surged 12% after beating street expectations for quarterly earnings and revenue. The results lifted other retail stocks. The sports apparel maker also showed progress in its attempt to clear through inventory, posting a decline over the previous quarter. Meanwhile, FedEx gained 3.4% after reporting earnings per share that beat estimates. The company also shared a slew of cost-cutting plans. Adding to the positive sentiment, the Conference Board released a report showing a significant improvement in US consumer confidence in the month of December.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index spiked to 108.3 in December from an upwardly revised 101.4 in November. Street had expected the index to inch up to 101.0 from the 100.2 originally reported for the previous month. With the much bigger than expected surge, the consumer confidence index reached its highest level since April 2022. On the sectoral front, Semiconductor stocks turned in some of the best performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging by 2.4 percent after ending Tuesday's trading at its lowest closing level in well over a month. Significant strength was also visible among energy stocks, which moved sharply higher along with the price of crude oil.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 526.74 points or 1.6 percent to 33,376.48, Nasdaq surged 162.26 points or 1.54 percent to 10,709.37 and S&P 500 was up by 56.82 points or 1.49 percent to 3,878.44.

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