Investing.com – The Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit new closing highs Tuesday as better-than-expected corporate earnings prompted investors to raise bets on stocks.
The S&P 500 gained 0.88% to close at 2,933.68, above its all-time closing high of 2,929.67 seen in September. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.32% to close at 8,120.82, above its previous closing high of 8,109.69 set on Aug. 29. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.55% higher.
The Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.26%, hitting all-time intraday and closing highs.
The busiest day of the earnings season so far brought much cheer to Wall Street, with several companies reporting earnings that overshot estimates from Investing.com, triggering a broad-based rally across sectors.
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) led the charge higher for tech stocks, surging 15.6% after topping first-quarter estimates on both the top and bottom lines and generating more daily active users than expected.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) also supported the broader tech sector, closing 5.8% higher after Morgan Stanley suggested there was still more room for upside despite gains of more than 65% since the chipmaker and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) agreed to drop all lawsuits against each other.
Morgan Stanley raised its rating on Qualcomm to overweight and its price target on the stock to $95.
Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS), meanwhile, led consumer discretionary stocks higher, helping the overall market advance after the toymaker's first-quarter results topped estimates driven by the success of the "Bumblebee" movie, which drove sales of its action toys.
Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) was also in the spotlight with gains of 12% after announcing it would accept returns for items purchased on Amazon,com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in all of its stores across the country.
Consumer discretionaries are set for a big week with Amazon set to report results on Thursday.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) also reported above-consensus earnings and raised sales guidance, but that did little to stop its shares closing more 2.7% lower on profit-taking.
Of the 104 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date for 1Q, 77.9% reported above analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv.
Earnings aside, energy stocks were little changed despite an ongoing rise in oil prices amid Washington's decision against extending sanctions waivers to countries that import Iranian oil.
In other news, Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) closed lower as it struggled to hold intraday gains, despite Wall Street analysts saying the company's strong value proposition and potential to scale using autonomous driving technology raises the potential for further growth.
Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage on Lyft with a buy rating and $75 price target. Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) assigned an outperform rating to Lyft with a $95 price target.
On the economic front, a surge in new home sales to a 17-month high, underscoring resilience in the housing market, also helped support sentiment.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) and Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
Waters (NYSE:WAT), State Street (NYSE:STT) and Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.