By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow climbed Friday as investors continued to back tech amid another session of wild swings on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.34%, or 358 points. The S&P 500 was up 1.60%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.26%.
Tech continued to ride the wave of bargain-seeking investors scooping up beaten-down blue chips in the sector with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), in particular, seeing strong gains, up 3%. The rise in Apple comes as Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) said the stock's recent weakness provides a "compelling entry point." Recent checks suggest that Apple is taking market share in Europe and China ahead of its iPhone 5G launch, the bank said.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), which together make up a quarter weighting of the S&P 500, traded above the flatline.
Industrials were not far behind thanks to gains in United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS), Boeing (NYSE:BA), and United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL), with the latter two rising on hopes the aviation industry could receive federal funding if the Democrats' proposed $2.4 trillion bill, which is expected to be voted on next week, is passed.
As well as aid for airlines, the bill is expected to include funding for direct payments to households and small business loans.
A 10% rally in Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX), meanwhile, pushed up healthcare stocks after the drugmaker said it had started a late-stage trial of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the U.K.
On the earnings front, Costco (NASDAQ:COST) reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped estimates. It shares fell 1%, but some Wall Street said the weakness was a buying opportunity.
"We'd take advantage of the weakness as we see a strong case for outperformance driven by continued market share gains and a special dividend, which could potentially come next year. However, EPS upside seems less likely from here as premium wages could continue going forward," Oppenheimer said.
Energy proved a drag on the broader market as oil prices remained sluggish amid worries about demand when many are concerned about further coronavirus lockdowns.