US equity markets climbed to their best levels in six weeks as some solid corporate earnings releases bolstered sentiment (albeit there were some soft results after the closing bell) and investors continued to pivot back towards the technology sector. Investors also largely shrugged off news that President Biden had contracted COVID - Dow gained +162-points or +0.51%. The broader S&P500 rose +0.99%, with Consumer Discretionary (+2.25%) among the best performing primary sectors for a third straight session and leading nine of the eleven primary sectors higher. Energy (down -1.69%) was the worst performing primary sector overnight. Tesla Inc jumped +9.78%, climbing for a seventh straight session after reporting impressive second quarter earnings against the backdrop of a challenging operating environment (that included COVID-related lockdowns in China that constrained production) after the closing bell of the previous session. Ford Motor Co rose +2.2% after Bloomberg reported that the automaker plans to cut thousands of workers to give it a leg up in the race to win a bigger share of the market for electric vehicles. United Airlines Holdings Inc fell -10.17% after falling short of Wall Street estimates for the second quarter after the close of Wednesday’s (20 July) session. The Nasdaq outperformed for a third consecutive session, rising +1.36%. It marked the first time since late May that the technology-centric index has advanced by 1% or more for three consecutive sessions. Meta Platforms Inc fell over >4.5% in after hours trading (after edging +0.04% higher in regular trading) The small capitalisation Russell 2000 added +0.48%.
