The US markets ended higher on Wednesday, extending the substantial rebound seen in the previous session. The continued strength on markets partly reflected a positive reaction to the latest batch of earnings reports from several big-name companies. Dow components Coca-Cola and Verizon moved to the upside after reporting better than expected quarterly results and raising their full-year guidance. Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson also closed higher after reporting second quarter results that exceeded street estimates. On the other hand, shares of Netflix fell sharply after the streaming giant reported weaker than expected second quarter earnings and forecast subscriber growth in the current quarter below street estimates.
On the sectorl front, Energy stocks moved sharply higher on the day as the price of crude oil continued to recover from the steep drop seen on Monday. Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index skyrocketed by 4.8 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index surged up by 3.8 percent. Significant strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 3.2 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index continued to rebound after ending Monday's trading at a five-month closing low. Semiconductor stocks also turned in a particularly strong performance on the day, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 3.1 percent.
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 286.01 points or 0.83 percent to 34,798, Nasdaq gained 133.08 points or 0.92 percent to 14,631.95 and S&P 500 was up by 35.63 points or 0.82 percent to 4,358.69.