NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose Friday with the Nasdaq climbing more than one percent following a blowout earnings report from chip supplier Applied Materials.
Applied Materials, which provides materials and software to build semiconductors, surged 13.8 percent after announcing that second-quarter orders jumped 37 percent from the year-ago period to $3.45 billion as it predicted record profits in 2016.
Chip companies Western Digital and Micron Technology rose 3.1 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile the broader market benefited from a bounce after largely negative trade the last three days.
“People were under-invested,” said Mace Blicksilver, director of Marblehead Asset Management.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.4 percent to 17,500.94.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent to 2,052.32, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.2 percent to 4,769.56.
Yahoo dropped 1.4 percent following a Wall Street Journal report that said bids for Yahoo’s core Internet business are now expected to be in the $2-3 billion range, below the $4-8 billion range expected previously.
Deere, which manufactures agricultural equipment, fell 5.5 percent as second-quarter earnings tumbled 28.3 percent from the year-ago period to $495.4 million due to the downturn in global farming conditions.
Gap rose 4.2 percent as it announced it would shutter 75 stores this year amid sagging sales, including 53 of its kids-focused Old Navy brand outlets in Japan. Net income in the first quarter was $127 million, down 47 percent from the year-ago period.
Some analysts said beaten-down Gap shares were a good value.
Weak performers on the day included Dow member McDonald’s, down 2.2 percent, drugstore chain CVS Health, down 1.5 percent, and Kroger supermarket, down 0.6 percent.
