Wall Street gains as healthcare stocks rally, oil prices fall

NEW YORK: Wall Street's main indexes climbed on Tuesday (Oct 20) as healthcare stocks hit a record high and easing oil prices boosted investor sentiment, while markets continued to stabilise following last week's technology-led selloff.

Brent crude was trading 1.3 per cent lower, reversing course after touching a near five-month high earlier in the day. 

Most S&P 500 constituents gained, with healthcare .SPXHC and financials .SPSY rising 1.8 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.

Energy led the losses, while an about 2 per cent decline in Meta Platforms pulled the communication services .SPLRCL sector down.

The market extended Monday's rebound, when the S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbed as investors bought the dip in technology stocks after last week's sharp selloff, fueled in part by concerns over CoreWeave's debt load and the cost of financing the AI buildout.

AI-related shares were flat to higher on Tuesday, after showing weakness in premarket trading. CoreWeave was last up 1.6 per cent, while chip gauge Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX rose 0.4 per cent.

"You're seeing some strength in some high-value stocks and the Dow, and so that's helping to sort of lift the overall index," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.

"Concerns about what's going on as far as semiconductors, that's still there and AI-related names are down, but for the most part, the rest of the market is seeing a bit of a nice rebound."

Elsewhere, shares of South Korean AI infrastructure company Elice Group tumbled nearly 30 per cent in their market debut, slipping below their IPO price after the company raised 201.1 billion won (US$151.12 million) in its offering.

At 10:31am ET (22:31pm, Singapore time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 617.62 points, or 1.22 per cent, to 52,599.29. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 53.99 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 7,744.72, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 154.58 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 26,585.47.

Investors are now watching this week's corporate earnings for clues on whether companies can maintain strong growth in the face of mounting macroeconomic risks.

Quarterly results from SpaceX and Netflix are due after the market close on Tuesday, while heavyweights Meta Platforms and Tesla are scheduled to report on Wednesday.

Steel Dynamics fell 1 per cent after the steelmaker missed third-quarter profit estimates.

General Motors shares dropped 5.3 per cent after the automaker forecast its annual earnings below analysts' expectations.

3M MMM.N gained 5.3 per cent after the company said it was expanding its data-center partnership with Amazon, and issued a warrant to an Amazon subsidiary to purchase 3M common stock worth over US$521 million. The industrial conglomerate also raised its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday.

Credit reporting firm Equifax EFX.N jumped 9.6 per cent after it reported third-quarter profit above analysts' estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.55-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by 3.45-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 26 new highs and 183 new lows.