By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets opened higher again on Wednesday, still supported by hopes for the early distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine next year and undaunted by record numbers of infections across the country over the last week.
However, the lead was taken by tech stocks, which profited from some bargain-hunting after underperforming heavily in the last two days as investors rotated back into cyclical and financial stocks.
By 9:35 AM ET (1435 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 134 points, or 0.5%, at 29,555 points. The S&P 500 was up a little more than 0.5% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.8%.
After two days of high volatility, it was a morning of relatively modest moves for the most popular stocks, with the Veterans' Day holiday and the relative lack of corporate earnings and economic data also helping to keep things quiet. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock rose 1.8%, recovering from its buffeting earlier in the week, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock rose 1.5% on the day it launched its new generation of Mac Books, complete with in-house developed chips for the first time in years.
Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) also rebounded moderately, up 3.5% after losing more than 20% since Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) inspired hopes to an end of enforced working-from-home on Monday.
Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) stock rose 6.1% to a five-month high after the ride-hailing company reported a rise in revenue in the third quarter, helped by the easing of coronavirus shutdowns eased in some cities. It also said it was working on developing a new food delivery service. That may concern investors who are pressing the company to deliver a profit, given that Uber (NYSE:UBER)'s much larger food delivery service hasn't been able to make money even when most of the restaurants in New York and California were shut.
Coty (NYSE:COTY) stock also extended its recent gains on the back of strong quarterly earnings on Monday, which have resulted in a raft of broker upgrades. Analysts at RBC have put a $7 price target on the stock, which still implies over 55% upside from the present level.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock meanwhile rose 1.5%, despite evidence of increased competition down the road as BMW unveiled its iNext all-electric SUV, due for launch next year. Electric vehicles of all stripes are widely expected to be beneficiaries of new environmental regulations when President-elect Joe Biden is confirmed in office in January.