Investing.com -- The Dow closed at record highs Wednesday, following a wobble the previous day as chip stocks steadied and Wall Street continued to roll out quarterly earnings.
At 4:00 p.m. ET (2000 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 337 points, or 0.8% to record close of 43,077.70. While the S&P 500 added 0.5%, and NASDAQ Composite gained 0.3%.
Morgan Stanley continues upbeat earnings from banks
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) stock rose more than 6% after the lender's profit surpassed estimates on a bumper third quarter for investment banking that had also buoyed rivals.
This rounded off the numbers from the sector, following largely positive earnings from the likes of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC).
Beyond the banks, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) rose more than 1% after the company slightly lifted its annual profit forecast, after beating Wall Street estimates for quarterly earnings on strong sales of its medical devices including its glucose-monitoring products.
United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) stock rose 12% after the carrier reporting third-quarter earnings ahead of expectations and announcing a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program.
Chip stocks steady but tech struggle continues
Tech stocks were in the red Wednesday as a rebound in chip stocks following an ASML (NASDAQ:ASML)- led rout was offset by weakness in Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).
ASML (AS:ASML) fell more than 5% adding to its losses from a day earlier when the chip equipment maker cut its 2025 sales forecast, triggering concerns about softer AI demand.
Chipmakers were also rattled by a report suggesting the U.S. government was considering limiting sales of AI-related chips to certain countries - a scenario that heralds weaker sales.
Novavax slumps as FDA pauses combo flu-COVID vaccine trial
Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX) fell more than 19% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration paused the company's trial of an experimental COVID-flu vaccine combination.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)