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Key Takeaways
- The S&P 500 jumped 1.2% on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, as tech stocks helped drive a second straight day of gains ahead of key earnings reports this week.
- Globe Life shares moved higher after the insurer reported a year-over-year gain in net operating income.
- Auto parts provider LKQ Corp. posted lower-than-expected first-quarter sales and profits, citing soft demand, and its shares tumbled.
Major U.S. equities indexes moved higher for the second consecutive day, extending their recovery from last week’s losses.
The communication services and technology sectors led stocks higher in anticipation of earnings reports from several tech giants throughout the remainder of the week.
The S&P 500 was up 1.2% on Tuesday. Optimism ahead of big tech earnings helped lift the Nasdaq, which closed the day 1.6% higher, while the Dow posted a gain of 0.7%.
Globe Life ( GL ) shares notched the S&P 500’s top performance, soaring 14.2% after the insurer reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2024. Despite falling slightly short of forecasts, net operating income increased year over year. Globe Life remains the subject of a federal probe into fraud allegations, and the daily gains mark only a partial recovery from heavy losses posted last week after short seller Fuzzy Panda said it had bet against the stock.
Shares of GE Aerospace ( GE ) jumped 8.3% after the maker of jet engines and other aircraft components reported better-than-expected sales and profits for the first quarter, driven by strong orders for commercial engines and services. The report also included results from energy division GE Vernova ( GEV ) before its spinoff was completed at the beginning of April. GE Vernova shares were up 8.2% on the day.
A strong earnings report also helped lift shares of Danaher ( DHR ), which gained 7.2%. The provider of medical tools and solutions posted year-over-year revenue growth in its life sciences and diagnostics segment, although sales in the biotechnology segment moved lower.
Auto parts provider LKQ Corp. ( LKQ ) missed sales and profit estimates with its first-quarter results, and its shares plunged 14.9%, marking the steepest losses in the S&P 500. The company also lowered its guidance for full-year organic revenue growth, citing difficult market conditions and weak demand for collision parts due to mild winter weather in North America.
MSCI ( MSCI ) shares tumbled 13.4% after the financial research and data provider reported lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue. The soft sales results reflected the impact of increased subscription cancellations, which MSCI attributed to corporate events such as customers closing, restructuring, or downsizing their organizations.
Shares of steelmaker Nucor ( NUE ) also moved lower in the wake of its first-quarter earnings report , slipping 8.9%. Although increased average selling prices and volumes helped drive quarter-over-quarter earnings growth for Nucor’s steel mills unit, lower prices and volumes led to a sequential earnings decline for its steel products division.