| Wall Street's main indexes closed higher on Tuesday on gains in Apple and healthcare stocks, despite concerns over a surge in the Delta variant of the coronavirus taking some shine off an upbeat corporate earnings season. Ten of the 11 S&P indexes traded higher, with the S&P 500 index setting a record closing high and energy stocks (.SPNY) rebounding after getting hit by a dip in oil prices . Apple Inc (AAPL.O) rose after sliding last week. Other heavyweight technology stocks, including Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and Facebook Inc (FB.O) continued to edge lower, capping gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq. A clutch of U.S. companies, including industrial materials maker Dupont (DD.N) and Discovery Inc (DISCA.O), reported better-than-expected quarterly results, but their shares fell as investors booked profits amid lofty stock valuations. Rising cases of the Delta variant and signs that the domestic economic rebound has begun to slow have knocked the three main U.S. stock indexes off record highs, while a deepening regulatory scrutiny in China has sent jitters through the global technology sector. Shares in U.S.- and European-listed gaming companies fell after a steep sell-off in China's social media and video games group Tencent (0700.HK), driven by fears the sector could be next in regulators' crosshairs. Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 279.16 points, or 0.8%, to 35,117.32, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 36.14 points, or 0.82%, to 4,423.3 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 80.23 points, or 0.55%, to 14,761.30. |
