Tech rally boosts US stocks, Netflix surges

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks powered higher Tuesday on strong corporate earnings, with a blowout report from Netflix igniting a rally in technology shares.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.7 percent to close the day at 7,281.10.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9 percent to end at 24,786.63, while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 1.1 percent to 2,706.39.

Streaming company Netflix surged more than nine percent after announcing it added 7.4 million new subscribers in the past quarter as net income grew 63 percent to $290 million.

Other large technology companies also enjoyed big advances, including Amazon, which won 4.3 percent and Google-parent Alphabet, which added 3.5 percent.

Analysts said strong results gave the market the impetus to shift its fixation from trade war fears and other problems.

"It's back to the fundamentals for now, even though it could change in a moment with a tweet," said Karl Haeling of LBBW.

UnitedHealth Group jumped 3.6 percent as it reported a 34.6 percent increase in first-quarter profit to $2.8 billion and lifted its full-year forecast

But Johnson & Johnson lost 0.9 percent despite reporting better-than-expected earnings, while Goldman Sachs dropped 1.7 percent after also topping forecasts.

In non-earnings news, Southwest Airlines fell 1.1 percent after investigators reported a fatality following an emergency landing of a Southwest plane in Philadelphia.

Starbucks advanced 0.7 percent as it announced it would close thousands of stores and corporate offices across the United States on May 29 to conduct "racial-bias education" following outrage over the arrest of two black men in one of its cafes.