By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – Wall Street turned positive Tuesday, as signs Covid-19 cases in California could be nearing a peak boosted risk sentiment and triggered a recovery in tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.39%, the S&P 500 gained 0.82%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.46%.
Cases in California rose by 7,346, compared with an 8,358 increase a day earlier, stoking investor hopes that infection in the state could be flattening. The update comes a day after California shut down all indoor inactivity.
Tech pared some losses as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) eased from the lows of the day.
The move off lows in the broader market comes as banks kicked off the earnings season.
Financials held slim gains following mixed earnings from banks as JPMorgan and Citigroup beat consensus estimates, thanks to strong trading revenue, while Wells Fargo cut its dividend by 80% and reported its first-quarter loss in more than a decade.
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) was flat, while Citigroup (NYSE:C) was down more than 3%, and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) fell 5.4%.
The quarterly results provided investors with further insight into the impact from the pandemic on lending activity, as the trio of banks collectively socked away nearly $28 billion to fortify themselves for a potential wave of bad loans.
Elsewhere, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) fell 2.4% after reporting a wider than expected loss and warning that it would be more than two years before the company sees a sustainable recovery.
The start of the earnings season comes as coronavirus cases totalled 3.43 million nationwide, with 138,000 dead so far, stoking investor worries that more states will be forced to roll back reopening measures.
Energy was the biggest gainer on the day, as oil prices remained steady despite ongoing concerns about the strength of the recovery in crude demand.
"There is a lot of concern that if more states begin to shut back down over Covid concerns, that could affect gasoline demand and thus the demand for ethanol," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), up 1.2%, held onto slim gains after Piper Sandler (NYSE:PIPR) lifted its price on the stock to a Street high of $2,322 citing the electric automaker's first-mover advantage.