Wall Street ends choppy session higher
Wall Street ended the day higher on Wednesday in a choppy session with shares of Pfizer boosting the Dow Jones after the drugmaker secured a nearly $2 billion order from the U.S. government if its experimental COVID-19 vaccine is successful.
The Dow rose 165 pointes, while the S&P 500 also climbed.
The Nasdaq had the smallest gain, capped by a drop in Amazon shares.
Corporate earnings remained a key focus for investors, with reporting season in full swing.
David Yepez - portfolio manager and senior investment analyst at Exencial Wealth Advisors - says expectations have set a low bar.
"Estimates are very bearish from many analysts. The average company that has reported so far have beaten on the most part and have gone with new surprises in their earnings. So that's a good backdrop for stocks to go higher."
Of the companies that have reported, more than 75% have beaten consensus, according to Refinitiv data.
Microsoft joining them on Wednesday, reporting quarterly revenue that beat estimates, as the global shift to remote work boosted sales for its cloud service Azure and productivity software suite.
Though shares fell in after-hours trading because for the first time ever Azure reported sales growth under 50%.
Tesla, on the other hand, soared after reporting its fourth straight quarter of profits - a first for the company.
