DJIA up 0.66% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - New York, 22 Apr - US shares were higher in afternoon trade as investors geared up for a busy week of earnings and data.

Wall Street racked up its worst week of trading in more than a year last week with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting six straight sessions of losses.

With geopolitical tensions easing, investors have switched the focus to a slate of big earnings to see how corporate America is coping with fallout from high interest rates.

The week will see updates from Big Tech names like Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet while Tesla, Boeing and Exxon Mobil are also scheduled to report.

On the data front, the advanced reading of first-quarter GDP is due later in the week as too is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption index.

Stubborn inflation has strengthened convictions the Fed will hold off longer on rate cuts and dial down the number of cuts it makes in the year.

On the stocks front, Tesla shares fell more than 3% after the electric-vehicle maker cut prices in some of its major markets including China to head off competition. Tesla is due to release quarterly earnings tomorrow.

Informatica shares meanwhile were down 8.5% after a report Salesforce had pulled its efforts to buy the software provider.

At 1710 GMT, the Dow Jones was up 249.95 points, or 0.66%, at 38,236.35 points.

The S&P 500 was 35.87 points, or 0.72%, higher at 5,003.10 points.

The Nasdaq was up 121.34 points, or 0.79%, at 15,403.35 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 22-04-24 19:15:32 (0672) 5 NNNN