S 038 P 500 up for the 4th consecutive day on earnings

US stocks rose today (October 21st) as results from companies such as Apple and Texas Instruments beat estimates.

The results lifted the Nasdaq index up more than one per cent, while the S&P 500 rose 1.1 per cent at 10:34 ET in New York. The latter has surged 3.4 per cent in the past four days on better-than-estimated earnings and speculation the Federal Reserve will boost stimulus if growth slows.

Apple Inc rose 2.3 per cent to $102 (£63.20) a day after revenue beat expectations. It announced on yesterday that it had sold a record 39 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of the firm's accounting year. 

Sales of the newly launched iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the main reason for the company's profit increase last quarter. It reported more than $41 billion in revenues, beating analysts’ expectations by $2 billion. The firm’s net income reached $8.5 billion, about $1 billion more than in the same period a year ago.

"This was strong across all sectors, and Apple gave a good guidance. Any fund manager who is underweight on Apple is probably rethinking that position today," Michael Binger, senior portfolio manager at Minneapolis-based Gradient Investments, told Reuters.

Chipmaker Texas Instruments' shares also rose three per cent to $45.80 after its revenue beat forecasts. About 77 per cent of S&P 500 companies that have reported quarterly results this season exceeded profit projections, while 61 per cent beat revenue estimates, Bloomberg reports.

This surge in US equities comes as more than $4 trillion was erased from the value of shares worldwide in the past six weeks amid signs the global economy is slowing, deepening concern over the advance of Islamic militants in Syria and the spread of the Ebola virus.

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