By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com -- The S&P 500 climbed Wednesday, as strength in tech helped offset weakness in financials after JPMorgan kicked off the quarterly earnings season.
The S&P 500 rose 0.9%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8%, or 258 points, the Nasdaq gained 1.8%.
Technology stocks were in the ascendency as investors swooped into big tech, with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) leading the charge up more than 1% as Treasury yields slipped for a second-straight day.
Chip stocks were also doing the heavy lifting for the tech sector, led by Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) after New Street Research upgraded the chipmaker to buy from neutral and raised its price target on the stock $280 from $255, citing the strength of its data center business.
Sentiment in the sector was also boosted by Bloomberg data showing that investors have been piling into chip stocks. Investor inflows into semiconductor ETFs jumped to $6.8 billion, topping the $5.2 billion of inflows seen in all of 2021.
Consumer discretionary stocks were also among the sectors leading the broader market higher, underpinned by a rally in travel-related stocks including Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR), and Carnival (NYSE:CCL), after better than feared results from Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) pointed to strong travel demand.
Delta forecast a return to profit in the second quarter after reporting a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss.
Financials, however, bucked the trend higher, weighed down by a more than 3% decline in JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) after first-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street estimates owing to higher than expected provisions for bad debt, citing “higher probabilities of downside risk.”
Citigroup (NYSE:C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:NYSE:GS), Wells Fargo (NYSE:NYSE:WFC), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:NYSE:MS), which all report on Thursday, were mostly in the red as investors appear to be pricing in higher credit loss provisions.
Asset management firm BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) reported quarterly results that beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines, supported by a jump in assets under management.
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) cut intraday losses to trade about 1% lower after posting a surprise quarterly loss as rising shipping costs weighed.
Energy stocks were boosted by ongoing climb in the oil prices after The International Energy Agency forecast a slight deficit in supplies this year amid weaker demand and the impact of sanctions on Russia oil.
The forecast of a deficit comes in the wake of the weekly data showing U.S. crude stockpiles rose by a more than expected 9.4 million barrels last week.
APA (NASDAQ:APA), Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), and Hess (NYSE:HES) were among the biggest gainers in the sector.