Stock Market Today: Dow Continues March Higher as Falling Yields Bolster Tech

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- The Dow continued its advance Tuesday as falling Treasury yields helped tech stocks mount a move higher just as the earnings season heats up. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1% or 337 points, the Nasdaq was rose 2.3%, and the S&P 500 rose 1.6%.

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) led the rally in big tech rising 6% followed by a more than 1% gain in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL).

Microsoft reported a beat on both the top and bottom lines, but slower-than-expected growth in its cloud business Azure weighed. Alphabet, meanwhile, fell more than 5% after reporting a miss on profit and revenue in Q3. 

Earnings from big tech will “either expose the negative underlying fundamentals across the tech space and cause massive earnings cuts into 2023…or prove that the bearishness and the demise of growth tech was premature,” Wedbush said in a note.

Falling Treasury yields also helped boost sentiment on big tech as data pointing to a weaker than expected consumer stoked further investor bets for less hawkish Federal Reserve rate hikes.

The consumer confidence index fell to 102.5 in October from a downwardly revised 107.8 in September. Economists were forecasting a reading of 106.5. 

Signs of a weaker consumer didn’t dent optimism about retailers as Bath&Body Works (NYSE:BBWI), Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST), and CarMax (NYSE:KMX) led consumer stocks higher.

General Motors (NYSE:GM), meanwhile, jumped more than 3% after the automaker reported third-quarter results that topped analysts’ estimates and maintained its full-year outlook at a time when many are worried about weaker demand.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) closed less than 1% higher after mixed quarterly results as revenue beat estimates but earnings fell short of estimates. United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE:UPS) also reported mixed third-quarter results, driven by weakness in its supply chain solutions business.

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) also reported weaker-than-expected earnings even as travel demand paved the way to hike fares offsetting rising input costs somewhat.

In other news, Elon Musk reportedly told bankers financing the debt portion of his $44 billion Twitter deal that he plans to wrap up the transaction by Friday, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.