U.S. stocks rally after Good Friday
Xinhua, April 17, 2017 Adjust font size:
U.S. stocks rose on Monday after a three-day holiday weekend as earnings season heated up.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 107.33 points, or 0.52 percent, to 20,560.58. The S&P 500 added 11.70 points, or 0.50 percent, to 2,340.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 31.59 points, or 0.54 percent, to 5,836.74.
A slew of notable companies will report quarterly results during the week, with the United Continental Holdings Inc. and the Netflix Inc. kicking off after Monday's closing bell.
The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter of 2017 are expected to gain 10.4 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 6.9 percent.
Business activity grew at a more subdued pace in New York State, according to firms responding to the April 2017 Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The headline general business conditions index fell 11 points to 5.2.
U.S. stock markets were closed Friday in observation of the Good Friday holiday. On Thursday, U.S. stocks pared early gains to end lower after the U.S. military dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan on an Islamic State target. Enditem