Stocks stage robust rebound helped by big tech

U.S. equity markets erased steep losses late in the session as technology stocks helped drive the rebound as investors celebrated a strong quarter from Microsoft and anticipated the same from e-commerce giant Amazon which topped expectations after the closing bell.

Those shares were rallying in the extended session after revenue of $87.4 billion beat the $86.09 billion estimate. Profits came in at $6.07 per share, well ahead of the $4.03 estimate. Amazon's value traded about the $1 trillion level late Thursday.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
SP500	S&P 500	5099.9	+51.48	+1.02%
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	38214.89	+129.09	+0.34%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	15920.058634	+308.30	+1.97%
AMZN	AMAZON.COM INC.	173.67	-2.92	-1.65%
MSFT	MICROSOFT CORP.	408.64	+9.61	+2.41%

Investors also shrugged off the spreading of the coronavirus weighed even after The World Health Organization said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon that the virus' outbreak constitutes a "public health emergency of international concern." The death toll from the coronavirus rose has reached 170 and 7,818 people worldwide have been infected, the WHO said. U.S. authorities confirmed a sixth case of the virus.

Along with earnings, solid data points served as a foundation for equities. U.S. gross domestic product grew at a 2.1 percent annualized rate in the fourth quarter, matching estimates.

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines were all weaker amid coronavirus-related worries. Cruise operators Carnival Corp. and Royal Carribean Cruises were sharply lower.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
UAL	UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC.	53.51	+0.84	+1.59%
DAL	DELTA AIR LINES INC.	49.88	+1.94	+4.05%
CCL	CARNIVAL CORP.	15.18	+0.17	+1.13%
RCL	ROYAL CARIBBEAN GROUP	137.47	+0.74	+0.54%

Meanwhile, drugmakers and medical mask makers gained.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
NVAX	NOVAVAX INC.	3.95	-0.20	-4.82%
NNVC	NANOVIRICIDES	1.10	-0.01	-0.90%
LAKE	LAKELAND INDS	16.95	+0.26	+1.56%

Elsewhere, earnings results continued to come out mostly better than expected.

Tesla zoomed higher after posting its second straight quarterly profit as both earnings and revenue topped estimates. The electric-vehicle maker also said production has begun for its Model Y crossover SUV.

Microsoft hit a record high after announcing revenue from its cloud-computing services business spiked 62 percent from a year ago. Both earnings and revenue were above expectations.

Facebook reported daily active users, earnings and revenue that were ahead of Wall Street estimates, but shares were under pressure as costs and expenses soared 34 percent year over year.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
TSLA	TESLA INC.	170.18	+8.05	+4.97%
MSFT	MICROSOFT CORP.	408.64	+9.61	+2.41%
FB	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.

Altria took a $4.1 billion write-down on its Juul business and has now written off 66.7 percent of its $12.8 billion investment in the e-cigarette maker that was made in November 2018.

United Parcel Service took a $1.8 billion write-down of its own, related to its pension plan. The logistics giant lost $106 million in the fourth quarter.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
MO	ALTRIA GROUP INC.	43.54	+0.62	+1.44%
UPS	UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC.	147.39	+0.77	+0.53%

Commodities were mixed with West Texas Intermediate crude oil down to $52.80 a barrel and gold up 0.8 percent at $1,578 an ounce.

U.S. Treasurys gained, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down to 1.587 percent, its lowest level in nearly four months.

Markets were lower across Europe with France’s CAC, Britain’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX all closing down 1.4 percent.

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Overnight, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei shed 2.6 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. China’s Shanghai Composite remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.