S&P 500 Gains 57 Points Ahead of Earnings, Huge Apple and Amazon Events, Ford Stock Gets an Upgrade

The S&P 500 Index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) gained nearly 1.7% on Oct. 12, a huge day for the index that makes up some 80% of the entire U.S. stock market's value. With the exception of materials, every sector closed higher today, but tech did the heavy lifting. The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF gained 3%. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) gained 6.2% today, while Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) closed up 4.5% and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)(NASDAQ: GOOG) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), picked up 4%. Combined, that's $7.4 trillion in market cap gaining more than 4.5% on average.

Why the big day? A combination of factors, including Wall Street analyst upgrades, optimism that Congress could reach a deal on stimulus, and high hopes as earnings season gets under way -- not to mention a couple of big events coming up for Apple and Amazon. Shares of auto giant Ford (NYSE: F) joined Apple in pacing the S&P, following an analyst upgrade.

Image source: Getty Images.

Source Fool.com