Stocks – JPMorgan, UnitedHealth, J&J Give Wall Street a Jolt

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Investing.com – Stocks surged Tuesday as the first big day of earnings delighted investors, but the rally faded a bit toward the close as profit-taking set in.

The finished up 1% and even topped 3,000 several times during the day. Selling resistance at that level, however, kept pushing the index back, and it finished below 3,000 for an 18th-straight day.

The jumped 1.24% with big gains in . The Index, dominated by big tech stocks, was up 1.28%.

The , powered by gains in UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:), closed up 0.89%, or 237 points. The blue-chip index had been up as many as 333 points earlier in the session.

UnitedHealth, JPMorgan) and J&J all reported strong earnings and guided higher.

Healthcare, communication services stocks — such as Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) and Facebook (NASDAQ:) — and financial stocks were the leading sectors on the day. Utilities and consumer staples stocks declined slightly.

Bank stocks may get another boost when Bank of America (NYSE:) reports on Wednesday.

Even Wells Fargo (NYSE:) got some love, saying it expects to show a gain in net interest income in the future. Still, it set aside $1.6 billion for expenses relating to its fake deposit account scandal. Shares rose 1.7%.

Automaker General Motors (NYSE:) rose 2.1% on news reports that a new contract with the United Auto Workers may soon be signed. Some 48,000 workers have been on strike since mid-September.

Meanwhile, reports of a possible Brexit deal in Europe added to the good feelings.

were higher on hopes a trade deal with China will ultimately come through.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:), Micron Technology (NASDAQ:) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:) were all up more than 3% on the day. Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:) hit a new high of $132.19 before closing up 1.5%.

Apple (NASDAQ:), however, was down 0.23% and ceded a little ground to Microsoft (NASDAQ:) for the title of World’s Most Valuable Public Company. Apple’s market capitalization was $1.063 trillion. Microsoft, up 1.45%, ended with a market cap of $1.081 trillion.

Other big tech stocks moved higher in the rally including, including Intel (NASDAQ:) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:).

Interest rates moved higher as investors looked for better profits in stocks. The moved up to 1.769% from Monday’s 1.753%.

But oil prices and gold moved lower. crude fell 1.46% to $52.81 a barrel. was down 1% to $58.75 a barrel.

fell $14.10 to $1,483.50 an ounce in New York.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:), First Republic Bank (NYSE:), and health insurers Anthem (NYSE:) and Cigna (NYSE:) were among the top stocks on the day.

Cimarex Energy (NYSE:), cosmetics company Coty (NYSE:), food processor ConAgra Foods (NYSE:) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE:) were among the S&P 500’s biggest laggards.