US stocks rose on Tuesday as Netflix spurred a rally in technology and internet stocks and UnitedHealth posted strong results, while hopes of more stimulus for China's slowing economy encouraged buying in risky assets.
Netflix Inc shares jumped 7 percent after the video streaming pioneer said it was raising prices for its US subscribers. Other high-profile stocks such as Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc rose following the announcement.
The communication services sector, which includes Netflix and Facebook, rose 1.64 percent, while technology stocks umped 1.53 percent.
"Investors are expecting earnings to be lower in 2019. However, a lot of the company reports that we read are still pretty positive. They are looking to hire, invest in businesses, looking to raise prices," said Matthew Watson, portfolio manager of James Golden Rainbow Fund in Xenia, Ohio.
Disappointing earnings reports from big US banks and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley's comments on the progress in US-China trade talks had tempered sentiment early in the day.
JPMorgan Chase & Co, the largest US bank by assets, missed quarterly profit estimates due to a slump in bond trading revenue, while Wells Fargo & Co said its loan book shrank and quarterly revenue fell in all of its major businesses.
However, JPMorgan shares rose 0.7 percent and Wells Fargo shed some of its early losses to trade down 1.4 percent.
The S&P financial index also turned higher, posting an 0.6 percent gain.
Chinese officials came out in force on Tuesday hinting at more stimulus in the near term, easing concerns about a slowdown in the world's second largest economy.
At 13:11 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 133.81 points, or 0.56 percent, at 24,043.65, the S&P 500 as up 24.39 points, or 0.94 percent, at 2,607.00 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 107.83 points, or 1.56 percent, at 7,013.75. Health insurer UnitedHealth Group jumped 2.7 percent and was the top gainer on the Dow after reporting a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
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