Wall Street surges in growth stocks rally; earnings season opens

Wall Street surges in growth stocks rally; earnings season opens

Wall Street rallied to end sharply higher on Wednesday, powered by a recovery in interest-sensitive growth stocks as investors digested hot inflation data and a mixed bag of quarterly results.

Falling U.S. Treasury yields helped the tech-heavy Nasdaq lead all three major U.S. stock indexes higher, with semiconductors (.SOX) outperforming the broader market.

The Nasdaq jumped over 2% while the S&P 500 and the Dow gained more than 1%.

"Bond yields may have gotten ahead of themselves and they're dropping lower today," said David Carter, managing director at Wealthspire Advisors in New York. "This helps almost all equities, but particularly growthy areas like tech."

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) set the first-quarter earnings season off to an inauspicious start, reporting a 42% drop in quarterly profit. The downbeat results from the biggest U.S. lender sent its shares down 3.2%.

On the brighter side, Delta Air Lines' (DAL.N) results beat expectations and it forecast a current-quarter return to profit due to "historically high" demand. Its 6.2% share jump was contagious; the broader S&P 1500 airline index (.SPCOMAIR) surged 6.8%.

"It’s great that demand is so strong," Carter added. "However, drive inflation higher, which will force the Fed to continue to raise rates, resulting in a weaker stock market."

"Business is good. Almost too good."

Strong