US stocks rose yesterday, shrugging off early losses as the Nasdaq advanced alongside internet names, which were boosted by strong results from Yelp.
Equities had opened mildly lower, with investors finding few reasons to keep chasing gains following a record close in the Dow on Wednesday. Some disappointing quarterly results, including from Cardinal Health and Textron, also limited gains.
Yelp Inc jumped 13 per cent to $65.82 a day after reporting strong revenue growth. The results lifted internet names, which have slumped recently on concerns that they, along with biotech “momentum” names, were overvalued.
Netflix Inc rose 5.7 per cent to $340.49 while TripAdvisor Inc added 4.4 per cent to $84.30 and Facebook Inc was up 3.7 per cent to $61.99.
“Yelp is rocking today, and when you have a group that has been beaten up over the past month, along with a market that is setting new highs, that’s a cue for momentum players to come back into the market,” said Michael Matousek, head trader at US Global Investors Inc in San Antonio. “Internet is the place to be today.”
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 5.11 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 16,585.95.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 2.58 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 1,886.53.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 26.00 points, or 0.63 per cent, at 4,140.55.
On the downside, Cardinal fell 5.4 per cent to $65.78 as its revenue missed expectations, while Textron lost 2.9 per cent to $39.73 following its results.
DirecTV Inc rose 5.5 per cent to $81.86 after the Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T Inc had approached the company about a possible acquisition. Shares of AT&T dipped 0.2 per cent to $35.63. Automakers were in focus following the release of April sales data, which showed a sharp rebound. General Motors Corp rose 1.98 per cent to $35.13 while Ford Motor Co was off 0.6 per cent to $16.05.
Jobless claims unexpectedly rose in the latest week, though the underlying trend continued to point to an improving labor market. US consumer spending saw its largest increase in more than four and a half years in March.
US manufacturing growth accelerated for a third straight month in April, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s index of national factory activity.