Investing.com – Wall Street was higher on Tuesday as the first quarter earnings season kicked off and strong economic data bolstered investor confidence.
The S&P 500 was up 20 points or 0.77% to 2,698.47 as of 9:45 AM ET (13:45 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 223 points or 0.91% to 24,796.69 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite rose over 74 points or 1.04% to 7,230.39.
Financial giant Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) surged 1.09% after its earnings came in higher than expected, while Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) fell 0.28% despite raising its sales forecast on strong demand for cancer drugs. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) increased 6.05% after it reported that new subscribers were more than expected.
Meanwhile Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) gained 1.07%, while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 1.65% and IBM (NYSE:IBM) rose 0.47% ahead of its earnings report after the markets close.
Elsewhere Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 2.31% after it delayed production of its Model 3 while Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) dipped 0.21%.
In economic news, U.S. housing starts rose by 1.9% in March, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.319 million units last month, the Commerce Department said. A separate report showed that industrial and manufacturing production also rose, supporting a strong economic outlook for the U.S. economy.
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 135 points or 1.10% while in France the CAC 40 increased 34 points or 0.66% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 24 points or 0.34%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 27 points or 0.80% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched up 30 points or 0.32%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.44% to $1,344.80 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.47% to $65.91 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.15% to 89.27.