In the afternoon the spotlight will turn to electric vehicle maker Tesla, with another Dow component – software services and cloud computing firm IBM – also posting.rallying for a second day as a combination of better-than-expected earnings and an easing of turmoil in U.K. markets lifted investors' confidence.
Even with some runs higher, all three indexes remain in a bear market, entered into after a drop of 20% or more from a recent high. "When you're in the throes of a bear market, to see meaningful moves higher for stocks, you need to also see a big move in the bond markets. You need yields to meaningfully fall," said Michael Antonelli, managing director and market strategist at Baird. That hasn't happened.
Lockheed Martin's shares rose $34.53, or 8.7%, to $431.84 after the defense company said its profit rose and maintained its full-year guidance. Meanwhile, shares of Salesforce Inc. rose $6.35, or 4.3%, to $153.53 and Splunk Inc. gained $2.11, or 2.8%, to $76.15 after activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP discussed the firm's stakes in them at a conference.