US stock indexes extended gains to trade more than 1% higher on Thursday, as optimism was driven by upbeat earnings from Cisco and Walmart as well as robust economic data that underlined the strength of the domestic economy.
Cisco Systems Inc jumped 7%, the most among the S&P and the Dow, after the network gear maker gave an upbeat sales forecast and said minimal sales exposure to China has helped cushion the impact from trade dispute. Walmart Inc rose 2.6% after it reported its best first-quarter same-store sales growth in nine years. The big box retailer also said prices for shoppers will rise due to higher tariffs on Chinese imports.
All the major S&P sectors were trading higher, with nine of them posting gains of more than 1%. "We are seeing a bounce back rally in markets and it is being driven by fundamentals, better-than-expected earnings and the possibility of lower interest rates," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.
The main indexes are set to extend a two-day winning streak. The benchmark S&P 500 index is now about 2% below its all-time high that it hit just two-weeks ago. At 12:24 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 297.01 points, or 1.16%, at 25,945.03. The S&P 500 was up 39.37 points, or 1.38%, at 2,890.33 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 119.61 points, or 1.53%, at 7,941.76.
Washington said it was adding Huawei Technologies Co to its "Entity List", in a move that bans it from acquiring components and technology from US firms without prior approval. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index fell 0.77%, weighed down by losses in Huawei suppliers Qualcomm Inc and Broadcom Inc and Xilinx Inc.