Apple Leads Wall Street Higher As AIG Stumbles

Wall Street ended higher after a choppy session on Tuesday, lifted by Apple and energy stocks but limited by declines in AIG and Microsoft while investors awaited more US government stimulus to fight economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Apple climbed 0.7 percent, up for a fifth straight session as investors cheered the iPhone maker's blowout quarterly report last week. The Silicon Valley heavyweight is around US$120 billion away from becoming the first US publicly listed company with a stock market value of US$2 trillion.

The S&P 500 energy index jumped 2.45 percent and was the strongest performer among 11 sectors, while healthcare declined .

Ralph Lauren dropped 4.4 percent to its lowest since May after quarterly revenue plunged due to coronavirus-related store closures and a slowdown in global demand for luxury goods.

American International Group Inc tumbled 7.5 percent after its quarterly adjusted profit slumped.

Notwithstanding those two reports, about 83 percent of the 352 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly results so far have beaten estimates for earnings, according to IBES Refinitiv data.

"Investors are still comfortable that the trajectory of earnings is on the right path and the 2021 outlook has remained intact. All that helps support the market at these levels," said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest.

"But there is an underlying level of uncertainty leading to a bit of caution," Bell added.

Microsoft Corp, which is looking to buy Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok's US operations, fell 1.5 percent.

White House officials could not say how the US government would receive a portion of the proceeds from any sale of TikTok's US operations, one day after President Donald Trump called for a cut of the money.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.62 percent to end at 26,828 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.36 percent to 3,306.5.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.35 percent to 10,941. (Reuters)