Wall Street Steadies On Surprise Profits

The results so far have given investors "both tricks and treats," said CFRA's Sam Stovall, describing several large outsized moves in stocks after unexpected results.

Through Wednesday, companies in the S&P 500 were expected to see a 3.8 percent drop in year-on-year earnings, although seven of 11 sectors were bettering analyst expectations, Stovall said.

Electric carmaker Tesla surged 17.7 percent after reporting a surprise profit of US$143 million, confounding analysts who had been forecasting a loss.

Tech giant Microsoft gained 2.0 percent as it reported a 21 percent increase in quarterly profits to $10.7 billion on its thriving cloud computing business.

American Airlines jumped 4.0 percent and Southwest Airlines gained 5.7 percent as they reported higher earnings despite of the hit from the prolonged grounding of the 737 MAX.

The companies signalled they expect to be reimbursed by Boeing for hundreds of millions of dollars in costs related to the aircraft.

American also said it expects more shareholder paybacks after concluding a multi-year investment initiative to renew its plane fleet.

But Twitter plunged 20.9 percent after it reported a sharp drop in quarterly profits as glitches in its ad-targeting ability hit revenues.

And Ford sank 6.6 percent as it cut its full-year profit forecast, citing increased incentive spending in North America and lower sales in China. (AFP)