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US stocks shrug off fake tweet, gain 1%

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US stocks have finished up more than one per cent despite a two-minute mini-crash caused by a false news agency tweet, with good earnings results from DuPont, Travelers and Netflix.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday was up 152.29 (1.05 per cent) at 14,719.46.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 16.28 (1.04 per cent) at 1,578.78, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 35.78 (1.11 per cent) to 3,269.33.

The market spent most of the day in positive territory, save for a brief plunge after a bogus Twitter message from a hacked Associated Press account said there were two explosions at the White House and President Barack Obama had been injured.

The Associated Press almost immediately announced it had been hacked and the message was false.

Stock markets plunged just as the report came out, with the Dow losing 130 points, or 0.9 per cent, and the S&P 500 dropping 12 points, or 0.8 per cent.

Within a few minutes, they rebounded to where they were before the message appeared.

Markets overlooked weak economic reports from China and the eurozone, instead focusing on solid corporate earnings.

Dow member DuPont jumped 4.1 per cent after net income more than doubled compared with the year-ago period.

United Technologies, another Dow component, dipped 0.8 per cent despite reporting higher profits compared with last year.

The Travelers Companies, another Dow component, put on 2.1 per cent after earnings rose by more than 11 per cent in the quarter.

Other insurers also gained. AIG put on 5.2 per cent and MetLife rose 5.5 per cent.

Netflix soared 24.4 per cent after announcing it swung into profit in the first quarter compared with a year ago.

Banking firms had a good day. Bank of America rose 3.0 per cent, JPMorgan Chase added 1.7 per cent and Citigroup jumped 2.9 per cent.

Upscale accessories and handbag retailer Coach soared 9.8 per cent after reporting higher earnings and announcing a higher dividend.

Apple leaped 5.5 per cent in after-hours trading after reporting its first drop in profit in almost 10 years. The board of the technology giant approved a $US100 billion ($A97.79 billion) share buyback by 2015.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury held flat at 1.70 per cent, the same level as Monday, while the 30-year bond edged up to 2.89 per cent from 2.88 per cent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.