All three US benchmarks finished higher on Wednesday with both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 up 0.8% as earnings season kicked up another gear.
Similarly, the Nasdaq jumped 0.9% despite the US reporting a 75% increase in COVID-19 cases and a 25% increase in deaths.
The successful vaccine rollout means policymakers have hope of avoiding a second slowdown, a benefit not as prevalent in less developed countries.
Chipotle & Coca-Cola report
Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) jumped over 11% in a positive sign for the likes of Collins Foods Ltd (ASX: CKF) with the company reporting a 40% increase in revenue in the fourth quarter.
Profit was up close to twentyfold, hitting US$188 million on the back of 56 new restaurant openings and an 11% increase in digital sales that now make up 49% of the total.
Elsewhere, shares in Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) also rallied, with the defensiveness on show as the company reported a 42% increase in revenue to US$10.1 billion.
Earnings also jumped by 50% as it made further market share gains in the non-alcoholic markets.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks traded on Wednesday.
- Carnival Corp (NSYE: CCL) up 9.5%
- NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) up 4.3%
- Uber (NYSE: UBER) up 3.1%
- Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) down 0.5%
- Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) down 1.1%
- Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) down 3.3%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is expected to follow US markets higher at the open on Thursday. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.
