Tech stocks bounce back to give the Nasdaq index its best day in months
The stock market’s rough start to the week might round out to a happy ending—and it’s all thanks to tech stocks. Giants such as Twitter, Tesla, and Microsoft reported strong earnings today, pushing the increasingly volatile Nasdaq Composite index up 3%, its biggest jump since March 26.
And it wasn’t just the tech-heavy Nasdaq. As of closing today (Oct. 25), the Dow industrials added 401 points, or 1.6%, back up to 24,984, after yesterday’s 600 point tumble. The S&P 500 also rose 1.9%, with consumer-discretionary, technology, and communications sectors each climbing more than 3%.
“It’s been a wild ride this week,” Paul Brigandi, managing director of investment-manager Direxion, told the Wall Street Journal (paywall). “It’s positive that the market bounced back today, but we need to see some follow-through.” Investors’ jangled nerves might be a little calmer—but they’re not quite out of the choppy seas of recent weeks.
For some companies, it was their first quarter out of the red in some time. After seven quarters of losses, Tesla had a record-breaking quarter, sending its share price soaring 9%. And social media company Twitter, despite a declining user base, managed to swing to a quarterly profit. Despite conservative expectations from Wall Street (paywall), Microsoft also reported strong earnings, closing the day with its stock up nearly 6%. But it wasn’t good news from everyone: Shares of chipmaker AMD shares plummeted more than 15% after the company reported third-quarter revenue far below expectations.
The rollercoaster, it appears, is climbing back up again. Although with Alphabet, Amazon, Snap and Netflix reporting disappointing earnings after closing, tomorrow may bring yet another plunge.
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