US stocks mostly higher as chip stocks steady; banks continue to roll out earnings

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 Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 264 points, or 0.6%, while S&P 500 dropped 0.2%, and NASDAQ Composite fell 0.1%. Morgan Stanley continues upbeat earnings from banks  

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS ) 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:GS ), Citigroup (NYSE:C ) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC ). 

Beyond the banks, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT ) 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:UAL ) 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:ASML )- led rout was offset by weakness in Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT ) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL ). 

ASML (AS:ASML ) 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:NVAX ) fell more than 17% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration paused the company's trial of an experimental COVID-flu vaccine combination.  

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

Source: Investing.com