Goldman Sachs, Lockheed Martin Earnings Drive U.S. Stock Rally

U.S. stocks rallied for a second straight day on Tuesday as solid quarterly results from Goldman Sachs and Lockheed Martin dampened worries of a dismal earnings season as it begins to pick up steam.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc gained 2.07% after reporting a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit as a boost in net interest income cushioned the blow from a slowdown in investment banking.

The investment bank, which is reorganizing its business into three units, largely closed out earnings from major financial firms on a largely positive note, even though several lenders raised the loan loss provisions in anticipation of troubled times ahead.

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Lockheed Martin shot up 8.49% after the weapons maker posted stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue and maintained its 2022 revenue view. The gains help lift the S&P industrials index 1.79%, the strongest performance of the 11 major sectors.

"This is why the rally happened yesterday and the rally is going on today is none of the six-month views that we get from the earnings reporting businesses is overly dour, and that kind of goes against every last person that is saying we are going to have a recession in six months," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.

"Companies are actually really very good, catastrophes and crises aside, at being able to forecast within their pipeline now."

Analysts now expect quarterly earnings growth for S&P 500 companies of just 2.8% from a year ago, much lower than an 11.1% increase expected at the start of July, according to Refinitiv data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 215.81 points, or 0.71%, to 30,401.63, the S&P 500 gained 21.19 points, or 0.58%, to 3,699.14 and the Nasdaq Composite added 19.23 points, or 0.18%, to 10,695.03.

Also providing a boost was a 4.28% climb in Salesforce Inc after a media report that activist investor Starboard Value LP has picked up stake in the enterprise software firm.

Signs the U.S. Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hike path may be starting to crimp the labor market were beginning to appear. Microsoft Corp, edged down 0.32% after a report it was laying off under 1,000 employees this week, becoming the latest U.S. technology company to cut jobs or slow hiring amid a global economic slowdown.

The Fed's path has left many investors worried it could tilt the economy into a recession by making a policy mistake and raising rates too much. Fed officials have largely been in sync in comments about the need for the central bank to tamp down inflation.

A report said ratings agency Fitch has slashed U.S. growth forecasts for this year and next and was set to warn that the Fed's interest rate hikes and inflation will drive the economy into a 1990-style recession.

But economic data on Tuesday indicated the manufacturing sector remains on reasonable footing despite the Fed's efforts, although they appear to be sharply weighing on the housing market.

Netflix lost 1.90% ahead of its earnings report after markets close, with all eyes on the video-streaming company's subscriber growth, which is seen falling in the third quarter.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.31-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.68-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 3 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 61 new highs and 81 new lows.

(Reuters reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by David Gregorio)

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