Wall Street’s main stock indexes closed at their highest levels ever on Tuesday, lifted by strong earnings reports from companies including Under Armour and Pfizer.
It was the fourth straight session of record high closes for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
Under Armour soared more than 16% after the athletic apparel maker raised its annual revenue and profit forecasts, alleviating investor fears about the global supply chain crisis ahead of the crucial holiday shopping period.
Pfizer rose over 4% after the drug-maker raised its full-year COVID-19 sales forecast.
Moderna added 3.4% ahead of its quarterly report early on Thursday.
With most third-quarter reports now handed in, results have been better than expected. S&P 500 earnings are estimated to have climbed 40% in the third quarter from a year ago, according to Refinitiv IBES.
At the start of October, analysts on average expected quarterly earnings to rise 29%.
Investors are closely watching the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, which ends on Wednesday.
The central bank is expected to approve plans to start tapering its monthly bond purchases, while focus will also be on commentary about interest rates and how sustained the recent surge in inflation is.
Among the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, materials led with a 1.1% gain, while energy was the deepest decliner, down about 1%.
With Tuesday’s rally, the S&P 500 is now up about 23% in 2021.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 138.79 points, or 0.39%, to 36,052.63, the S&P 500 gained 16.98 points, or 0.37%, to 4,630.65 and the Nasdaq Composite added 53.69 points, or 0.34%, to 15,649.60.
