US STOCKS-Wall Street soars after strong start to earnings season

Wall Street gained 1% on Tuesday as strong earnings from JPMorgan, UnitedHealth and Johnson & Johnson allayed concerns about the fallout from a prolonged U.S.-China trade war on corporate America.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co hit a record high after the largest U.S. bank by assets blew past Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit. The bank's results lifted the S&P 500 banking sector to its highest level in more than 2-1/2 months. Goldman Sachs was the only major U.S. bank trading lower after posting a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit.

UnitedHealth Group Inc was set to post its best day in more than a decade, while Johnson & Johnson shares eyed their biggest one-day percentage gain since January after both companies raised their profit forecasts. The stocks were among the top boosts to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes and lifted the S&P healthcare sector to a three-week high. Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher.

"If this earnings season turns out to be better than expected, we can end up with a scenario that there won't be pressure on the labor market and that keeps us away from a recession," said Phil Blancato, chief executive of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management in New York. Analysts have forecast the worst quarterly profit performance in about three years for S&P 500 companies, with industrials among those most at risk from the trade dispute.

For an interactive graphic, click the link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2IUwPLY Wall Street has been rattled over the past 15 months by tit-for-tat tariffs by the United States and China, with the impact already reflecting in the domestic economy. After solid increases in the first quarter, gains in the three main U.S. stock indexes have tapered off.

At 11:44 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 269.49 points, or 1.01%, at 27,056.85. The S&P 500 was up 31.42 points, or 1.06%, at 2,997.57 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 87.74 points, or 1.09%, at 8,136.39. Shares of mobile game developer Glu Mobile jumped 10.09% as the company is set to replace SolarEdge Technologies in the S&P SmallCap 600.

BlackRock Inc, the world's biggest asset manager, rose 2.2% after its quarterly profit beat estimates. D.R. Horton Inc, Toll Brothers Inc, Lennar Corp, and PulteGroup Inc rose marginally after RBC Capital Markets raised its price targets on several housing stocks.

Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are due to report later this week, along with Netflix Inc, Abbott Laboratories and International Business Machines. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.38-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.83-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 14 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 51 new lows. 

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