Wall St advances after strong bank earnings, chip stocks' rally

By Sukriti Gupta and Twesha Dikshit (Reuters) – Wall Street's main indexes rose on Wednesday after solid results from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, while chipmakers climbed as ASML reported strong quarterly results. Morgan Stanley's shares hit a record high and were last up 7.2%, while Bank of America rose 4.4% after the top lenders beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit on dealmaking strength. Bank of America also raised the low end of its interest income forecast range. "We've seen really good results from the big banks that have reported thus far, some impressive beats there, so I would expect that we'd see positive sentiment and a good market reaction," said Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a CNBC event that the wave of investment into the U.S. economy is sustainable and is only getting started. A day earlier, lenders including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase reported solid performance in investment banking and predicted that the business would continue to boom. The results indicate early strength in the third‑quarter earnings season in corporate America, providing a proxy for the economy while government reports are on hold. U.S. chipmakers rose after ASML reported third-quarter orders and operating income above market expectations. U.S.-listed shares of ASML advanced 3%. Micron Technology added 1.4% and Advanced Micro Devices rose 6.5%. Intel and Nvidia added 1.5% and 1.2% respectively. At 10:03 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 358.55 points, or 0.77%, to 46,627.33, the S&P 500 gained 65.39 points, or 0.98%, to 6,709.70 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 261.64 points, or 1.16%, to 22,783.34. The S&P 500 tech and financials sectors led the broader gains, rising 1.3% and 0.8%, respectively. The S&P 500 banking index rose 2.1% on the day. A slate of Fed officials are set to speak later in the day. Fed's Beige Book of economic condition, due at 2:00 p.m. ET, is also on radar. Fed Governor Stephen Miran at a CNBC event said "two more cuts this year sounds realistic", noting that the labor market has clearly weakened. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell left the door open to rate cuts on Tuesday by saying the U.S. labor market remained mired in low-hiring, low-firing doldrums. Bessent also told CNBC he plans to present three or four Fed chief candidates to President Donald Trump for him to interview sometime after Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, Trump on Tuesday said Washington was considering cutting some trade ties with China, including in relation to cooking oil. That came after the two countries began imposing tit-for-tat port fees, adding to concerns about the China-U.S. trade war. Bessent said officials from both countries are working to set up a meeting. Among other stocks, Abbott declined 2.7% on downbeat quarterly revenue. Progressive Corp lost 7.8% after the insurer reported third-quarter results. Bunge rose 10.9% despite the company lowering its 2025 earnings forecast following its merger with Viterra. On the Nasdaq, 3,097 stocks rose and 1,016 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.05-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 103 new highs and 15 new lows. (Reporting by Sukriti Gupta and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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