Yahoo Finance US stocks gain despite weak Adobe, Yum
Wall Street stocks pushed higher Wednesday despite some disappointing earnings news from Yum Brands, Adobe Systems and others.
The Dow Jones industrial Average advanced 122.10 points (0.73 percent) to 16,912.29.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 15.91 (0.80 percent) to 1,995.83, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 42.79 (0.90 percent) at 4,791.15.
Yum Brands, which owns the KFC and Taco Bell fast-food chains, plummeted 18.8 percent as it lowered its earnings forecast due to sluggish sales in China.
Software company Adobe fell 5.3 percent after projecting 2016 earnings of $2.70 per share, well below the $3.19 expected by analysts.
Analysts said US stocks were primed for gains after a terrible third quarter.
"Markets continue to see their bounce," said Charlie Bilello, director of research at Pension Partners. "We had an oversold market at the end of September."
Pharma companies gained, including Dow member Merck (+2.3 percent), Amgen (+4.8 percent) and Celgene (+4.3 percent).
Other big gains came from microblogging company Twitter (+8.0 percent) and Chinese Internet giant Alibaba (+3.7 percent).
Dow member General Electric rose 1.8 percent as it announced it was reorganizing several energy management and research operations into a subsidiary specializing in new energy technologies. Separately, Standard & Poor's shifted its ratings outlook to "negative."
Beer and spirits distributor Constellation Brands gained 2.5 percent as second-quarter net income rose 54.4 percent to $302.4 million.
Agricultural seed giant Monsanto rose 0.6 percent as it announced plans to cut 2,600 jobs over the next 18 to 24 months due to weakening demand amid lower commodity prices.
Mining and oil company Freeport-McMoRan jumped 10.0 percent after announcing an agreement with activist investor Carl Icahn to appoint two Icahn associates to the company's board.
Online radio service Pandora Media lost 4.6 percent on news it will buy ticket seller Ticketfly for $450 million.
Bond prices dipped. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.06 percent from 2.04 percent Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.89 percent from 2.87 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
