The sluggish start to the year has now taken a new direction for Wall Street. Tech companies written off? Hardly when it comes to Netflix, which is now lifting the entire sector.
The hangover that Wall Street suffered after the New Year seems to have subsided.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose on Wednesday – for the fifth day in a row.
Netflix Lifts Wall Street
Those who thought the era of tech companies was over may need to think again, as Netflix now reports that the platform has over 260 million paying subscribers. This boosted the Netflix stock, which rose by ten percent on Wednesday, which is good for the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which went up by 0.36 percent.
The S&P 500 rose by 0.08 percent, while the Dow Jones retreated slightly – by 0.26 percent.
However, the major topic of conversation on Wall Street is still Netflix, which remains the king among streaming services. The company smashed expectations with its latest quarterly report, where revenues increased by 12.5 percent and net profit by a whole 160 percent.
Charlie Ripley, strategist at Allianz Investment Management, describes the Netflix report as showing a “pretty decent tailwind”.
“People thought that things were positioned for more downside risks, as economic growth continues to slow. But what we have seen is that things have been more resilient,” he tells CNBC.
Strong 2024
Much indicates that it will be a strong year for Wall Street, as companies’ reports have already landed on strong figures.
Sixteen percent of the S&P 500 companies have so far reported their quarterly reports from the earnings season, of which 71 percent have exceeded Wall Street’s expectations.
“The markets are very bullish right now,” says Larry Tentarelli, founder of Blue Chip Daily Trend Report.