US open: Stocks sharply higher as earnings continue to roll in
Wall Street stocks were firmly in the green at the start of trading on Tuesday, with major indices looking set to extend yesterday's strong rally.
As of 1525 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.78% at 30,751.02, while the S&P 500 was 1.62% firmer at 3,835.15 and the Nasdaq-100 started out the session 1.36% stronger at 13,585.71.
The Dow opened 539.11 points higher on Tuesday, building on gains recorded yesterday that came as concerns regarding a recent wave of speculative retail trading subsided.
Corporate earnings were again in focus on Tuesday, with the likes of Amazon and Alphabet set to report after the close, while Pfizer was in the red after falling short of profit expectations and ExxonMobil topped fourth-quarter earnings per share estimates but fell short on revenues.
Following a meteoric rise last week, GameStop shares were down 50% in early trading following a 30% slide on Monday, meaning the stock has now lost more than half of its value in just two days.
Stimulus negotiations in Washington were also in focus after congressional Republicans made a counteroffer to Joe Biden's $1.9trn stimulus plan on Sunday. Biden met with the GOP lawmakers on Monday after congressional Democrats looked on track to pass a reconciliation bill despite not having bipartisan support.
On the macro front, the Institute for Supply Management's New York Index revealed current business conditions decreased 10.1 points to a two-month low of 51.2 in January, down from 61.3 a month earlier.
Still to come, Federal Reserve presidents Loretta Mester and John Williams will both deliver comments at 1900 GMT.