Pharmaceutical stocks lift US market

  • Breaking
  • 22/04/2014

Solid earnings and major pharmaceutical-sector deals have lifted stocks, producing a sixth straight day of gains for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.02 points (0.40 percent) to 16,514.27, the third day in a row to see a gain.

The S&P 500 added 7.72 (0.41 percent) at 1,879.61, while the Nasdaq put on 39.91 (0.97 percent) to 4,161.46.

A series of deals between Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly shuffled more than US$20 billion (AU$22 billion) in assets.

The market was also cheered by a plethora of earnings that mostly beat expectations.

"If you look at the market overall, we see a lot of beats in terms of earnings," said David Levy, portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management.

Levy said the tech stocks have re-emerged as leaders after languishing for much of March and early April.

"The market sentiment seems to have turned much more positive," he said.

AFP

source: newshub archive