Investing.com — U.S. stocks were mostly higher Wednesday following a rout the previous day as chip stocks steadied and Wall Street continued to roll out quarterly earnings.
At 12:56 ET (1656 GMT), the rose 264 points, or 0.6%, while dropped 0.2%, and fell 0.1%.
Morgan Stanley continues upbeat earnings from banks
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) stock rose more than 6% after the lender’s profit surpassed estimates on a bumper third quarter for investment banking that had also buoyed rivals.
This rounded off the numbers from the sector, following largely positive earnings from the likes of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:), Citigroup (NYSE:) and Bank of America (NYSE:).
Beyond the banks, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:) rose more than 1% after the company slightly lifted its annual profit forecast, after beating Wall Street estimates for quarterly earnings on strong sales of its medical devices including its glucose-monitoring products.
United Airlines (NASDAQ:) stock rose 12% after the carrier reporting third-quarter earnings ahead of expectations and announcing a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program.
Chip stocks steady but tech struggle continues
Tech stocks were in the red Wednesday as a rebound in chip stocks following an ASML (NASDAQ:)- led rout was offset by weakness in Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Apple (NASDAQ:).
ASML (AS:) fell more than 5% adding to its losses from a day earlier when the chip equipment maker cut its 2025 sales forecast, triggering concerns about softer AI demand.
Chipmakers were also rattled by a report suggesting the U.S. government was considering limiting sales of AI-related chips to certain countries – a scenario that heralds weaker sales.
Novavax slumps as FDA pauses combo flu-COVID vaccine trial
Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:) fell more than 17% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration paused the company’s trial of an experimental COVID-flu vaccine combination.
