S&P, Nasdaq Hit New Highs Amid Earnings Reports

Steve Goldstein and Jacob Sonenshine

Updated Feb. 4, 2021 5:07 pm ET / Original Feb. 4, 2021 5:35 am ET

A Qualcomm office in San Jose, California.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The stock market continued its rally Thursday as more earnings rolled in amid stimulus talks and stronger-than-expected economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 332 points, or 1.08%, while the S&P 500 closed at a record high, up 1.09% on the day. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.23% for a record close as well.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is holding a meeting with the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Reserve Board, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to discuss recent volatility in financial markets. That is a reference to the surge, and then decline, in the value of companies, including videogames retailer GameStop (ticker: GME) and cinema chain AMC Entertainment (AMC), that have been evangelized on the Reddit message board.

Asian markets declined, with the Nikkei 225 down 1% and losses in Hong Kong, Seoul, Sydney and Shanghai. The dip on Thursday comes as the MSCI All-Countries Asia-Pacific has climbed 6% this year, outpacing the 2% advance for the U.S. S&P 500.

The Stoxx Europe 600 edged up 0.6%.

Bond yields have started to climb again, buoyed by hopes for the economy to rev higher as coronavirus vaccines get rolled out and as the impact of fiscal and monetary stimulus gets absorbed into the economy. Those higher bond yields make relative valuation for equities more difficult.

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eBay  (EBAY) rose 5.3% after the online marketplace said it earned 86 cents per share, better than analyst estimates of 83 cents. The company saw revenue of $2.9 billion, beating expectations of $2.7 billion.

PayPal Holdings  (PYPL) rose 7.4% after the company reported a profit of $1.08 a share, better than the forecast $1, on revenue of $6.12 billion, beating the estimate of $6.09 billion.

Qualcomm  (QCOM) shares were down 8.8% after the chip maker posted a mixed quarter. The company posted a profit of $2.17 a share on sales of $8.23 billion, versus expectations of $2.10 a share and revenue of $8.27 billion.

Philip Morris (PM) rose 4.2% on better than expected fourth-quarter earnings, despite declining cigarette sales as shipments of the company’s heated-tobacco cigarette alternative, IQOS, rose 27%.

Best Buy  (BBY) rose 3.2% after Bank of America upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral.

FireEye  (FEYE) rose 4.4% after Bank of America upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral.