ALL three major indices on Wall Street finished higher on Friday (Oct 18), as a strong string of earnings results helped drive the Dow and the S&P 500 to new all-time highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 per cent to 43,275.91, while the broad-based S&P 500 finished up 0.4 per cent at 5,864.67.
The tech-rich Nasdaq closed 0.6 per cent higher at 18,489.55.
“Earnings was a big positive part of the story today,” Edward Jones senior investment strategist Angelo Kourkafas said. “Technology stocks are the ones leading the gains and helping the S&P reach its sixth consecutive weekly gain.”
Netflix’s earnings results and positive reports on Apple’s iPhone sales in China were both “helping lift the tech space”, he continued, adding that there had also been some positive economic news from China to buoy investors.
Among individual stocks, the streaming giant Netflix closed up 11.1 per cent after beating earnings expectations for the third quarter.
And the pharmacy and health services firm CVS saw its share price fall 5.2 per cent after announcing it had replaced its chief executive Karen Lynch with company veteran David Joyner as it struggles with profitability. AFP
