Earnings Push Dow 267 points higher

Strong earnings announced by Walmart and Home Depot helped push Dow Jones and the S&P 500 indexes on Tuesday. Shares of both companies are trading higher Tuesday afternoon, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average into the green territory. The Dow DJIA was most recently trading 267 points (0.8%) higher, as these shares are contributing to the index’s intraday rally.

At 12:11 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 248.32 points, or 0.73%, at 34,160.76, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 11.50 points, or 0.27%, at 4,308.64, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was down 20.10 points, or 0.15%, at 13,107.95.

Investor sentiment is still bearish, but no longer “apocalyptically. Focus will be on retail earnings and retail sales data this week for more clues on the impact of inflation on consumer behavior.

Home Depot Inc (HD.N) added 5.4% as it surpassed estimates for quarterly sales on steady demand from builders as well as price hikes. The two heavyweight stocks contributed to the S&P 500 retail sector’s (.SPXRT) 2.1% gain.

These companies are beating reduced or at least modestly reduced expectations. Arguably, it is unexpected to some degree to see the magnitude of EPS strength being seen this quarter and even the prior quarter in the face of the difficulty that consumers are facing on the inflation in the rising rate environment.

So far, 77.6% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported results as of Friday have topped analysts’ estimates. Better than expected earnings from corporate America are helping U.S. equities recoup losses from a recent inflation-induced rout, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq index bouncing nearly 24% off its mid-June lows.