Stocks – Techs Lead S&P to Small Gain, 3M Weighs on Dow

Investing.com – Technology stocks drove the S&P 500 and Nasdaq higher Thursday thanks to big earnings beats from key stocks, including Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Tesla (NASDAQ:).

The rose 0.19%. The index added 0.81% and the index rose nearly 1%. The ended down 0.11% after falling as many as 120 points early in the session.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:), PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:), Tesla (NASDAQ:) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) were responsible for more than 40 points of the Nasdaq-100’s 70-point gain. The first three reported either late Wednesday or Thursday.

Amazon shares, however, fell nearly 7.7% after hours after the close when third-quarter earnings per share came in a $4.23. The consensus estimate from analysts tracked by Investing.com was $4.59. Worse, the EPS was the lower than a year ago and first profit decline in two years. The online retail giant had warned it was making heavy investments in being to deliver purchases to Amazon Prime customers in a little as a day. In addition, its guidance for fourth-quarter sales were lower than expected.

Still, revenue was up 23.7% to $69.98 billion and ahead of the Wall Street estimate of $68.8 billion.

Intel (NASDAQ:) shares, however, jumped 8% after third-quarter earnings of $1.42 beat the estimate of $1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:) also added nearly 18 points to the , which was held back primarily by a weak earnings report from 3M (NYSE:).

Twitter (NYSE:) shares, however, dropped nearly 21% as earnings badly missed Wall Street estimates.

It was a busy day for markets, which experienced the heaviest day of third-quarter earnings reports.

In addition, Vice President Mike Pence, in a speech today, criticized the National Basketball Association for failing to back protesters in Hong Kong. Worries that the remarks, which were a defense of the protestors, might affect the ongoing U.S.-China trade talks faded as the day went on.

Economic data, particularly durable goods orders and new-home sales, were a little lighter than expected.

Nonetheless, the market tone was better that what the numbers said. No fewer than 162 stocks hit 52-week highs, including Apple (NASDAQ:), Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:) and recreational vehicle maker Winnebago (NYSE:).

Oil prices moved higher, as did gold. Interest rates were modestly higher.

Orthodontics company Align Technology (NASDAQ:), chip company Lam Research (NASDAQ:), Auto parts retailer O’Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ:) and chip-equipment maker Applied Materials (NASDAQ:) were among the top performers on the day.

Twitter (NYSE:), marketing company Alliance Data Systems (NYSE:), TechnipFMC (NYSE:) and drug maker Baxter International (NYSE:) were among the weakest S&P performers on the day.

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