The Nasdaq reached another new high, hitting 15,000 points overnight after gaining 0.5% as earnings season came to an end. The move from 14,000 to 15,000 took longer than in recent memory with some 136 trading sessions required.
The S&P 500 and Dow Joes were comparatively weaker, up 0.2% and 0.1% respectively as the cyclical trade tailed off.
The record comes amid valuation concerns yet around 90% of companies delivered earnings updates this month with earnings close to doubling, up 95%, in the last 12 months. This suggests the index is being driven by growing companies rather than just valuations.
The House of Reps passed the US$3.5 trillion budget bill focused on social security with a final vote on the US$1 trillion infrastructure package lined up for September.
Palo Alto delivers
On a company-specific level, Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) was up over 18% with the cybersecurity group reporting a 30% increase in revenue to US$1.22 billion.
The company is clearly benefitting from the forced move online and the growing risk of cyber-attacks.
US stock market movers
Other US stocks making big moves on Tuesday include:
- Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD) up 22.3%
- JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) up 14.4%
- Best Buy (NSYE: BBY) up 8.4%
- Uber (NSYE: UBER) down 2.0%
- Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) down 4.1%
- Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) down 6.1%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is tipped to open higher on Wednesday as buy now, pay later companies Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) gear up to report.
For all the latest, make sure to bookmark Rask Media’s ASX reporting season calendar.