(Reuters) - Wall Street stocks rose on Thursday, as strong earnings from Facebook and a handful of chipmakers powered technology stocks, and U.S. bond yields pulled back.
The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite index opened more than 1 percent higher, on track to break its five-day losing streak, its longest since November 2016. The S&P technology index rose 1.4 percent, the biggest gainer among the 11 major S&P sectors.
Facebook jumped 7.6 percent after strong results calmed nerves on fallout from the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.
Visa’s 3.1 percent jump, following the payments network’s better-than-expected profit and earnings forecast raise, provided the biggest boost to the Dow Jones Industrial Average index.
Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm were up 11.5 percent and 2.1 percent after the chipmakers posted quarterly results that beat Wall Street estimates, easing concerns about weak demand for smartphones after some Asian peers warned of slower growth.
The gains pushed the Philadelphia Semiconductor index up by more than 1 percent.
“We are right in the thick of earnings season and some of them have been a bit of a surprise,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
Despite strong results from most U.S. firms that have reported so far, investors have been reacting to signs that rising inflation could take a toll on corporate profits.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, the benchmark for global borrowing costs, crossed the 3 percent level on Tuesday for the first time in four years, on an increase in federal borrowing, inflation concerns and bets on further rate increases by the Federal
