The U.S. stock market pared some of its early gains after the investors' reversed sentiments following Citigroup's (C) earnings shortfall, though Wells Fargo's earnings offered some solace. The result of Citigroup had obviously forced investors to offload some of their holdings in bank stocks as the session progressed.
The Dow Jones opened with a slender gain of 1.06 points and within half an hour, the index increased its gains by 151.59 points or 1.22 percent to trade at 12,573.65 on the back of China's growth prospects.
The index closed with a gain of 60.01 points only or 0.48 percent with Energy sector leading the charge. Similarly, S&P 500 and Nasdaq advanced with 4.12 points or 0.32 percent and 15.77 points or 0.58 percent respectively.
All sectors advanced except transportation sector, which shed 0.1 percent. Within energy sector, Venoco (VQ), Rowan Companies (RDC), Petrobras Argentina (PZE) gained the most with 29.9 percent, 5.89 percent and 5.45 percent respectively. The basic materials sector was the second strong performer with a gain of 0.94 percent. Cameco Corp. (CCJ) advanced 6.74 percent in the basic materials space after India's Sterlite Industries (SLT) led the pack with 8.32 percent gain.
Construction non-cyclical advanced 0.71 percent, Construction cyclical edged up 0.34 percent, Capital Goods, Conglomerates and Health sector gained 0.65 percent each, and Technology advanced 0.68 percent.
In the financials space, Citigroup (C) suffered the most with a loss of 8.21 percent, followed by JPMorgan's 2.81 percent, Bank of America's 1.97 percent and Goldman Sachs 1.29 percent. Wells Fargo managed to wither the storm by advancing 0.73 percent after posting better than expected results on mortgage lending growth.
Apple (AAPL) shares advanced 1.16 percent, Oracle (ORCL) and Research In Motion (RIMM) edged up 1.21 percent and 8.04 percent respectively in the technology space. Compuware (CPWR) and Spreadtrum Communications (SPRD) were the worst performers with a loss of 9.54 percent and 6.06 percent respectively. Compuware stocks were hammered after the company guided its third quarter earnings below expectations.
In the healthcare sector, Gilead Sciences (GILD) gained the most with 3.05 percent, while Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI) suffered the most with a loss of 6.8 percent.
Among the other stocks in focus were Carnival (CCL) that lost 13.65 percent following reports of one of its ships sink in Italy and R.R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD), which shed 15.82 percent after its revenue outlook failed to meet analysts' expectations.
On the commodities front, Gold advanced 1.34 percent to $1,652.60 per ounce, while Oil (WTI) edged up by 2.29 percent to trade at $100.96 per barrel. The U.S. 10-year bond yield skid 0.007 percent.