Wall Street firms 1% on boost from tech stocks; Dow rises 480 points

The S&P 500 was up 63.50 points, or 1.46%, at 4,413.43, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 170.15 points, or 1.26%, at 13,712.27

US stock indexes opened higher on Thursday on a boost from tech-focused megacap firms a day after hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve weighed on markets.

Leading gains on the benchmark S&P 500 was a 18.4% surge in hard-disk maker Seagate Technology's shares followed by a 13.5% jump in digital workflow company ServiceNow Inc.

Both the companies reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

Netflix Inc jumped 7.0% as billionaire investor William Ackman amassed a new stake in the streaming service company worth more than $1 billion.

Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet gained nearly 2% each, with the iPhone maker set to report results after markets close.

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