<span>STORY: U.S. stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow gaining half a percent, the S&P 500 climbing more than three-quarters of a percent and the Nasdaq adding 1.3%.</span><span>A news report that Iran had signaled openness to talks, and a pledge by President Donald Trump to steady oil markets, calmed investor anxiety about the Middle East clash.</span><span>But Adam Coons, chief investment officer at Winthrop Capital Management, said strong earnings and economic data are what’s really powering stocks.</span><span>“Aside from some smaller – and I don’t mean to downplay certain things that are obviously big globally – but from a market standpoint, from what affects revenue, earnings and that sort of thing, there’s really nothing major hitting. To the contrast, I think we’re getting data that’s showing that the US economy especially is continuing to be really resilient. Consumers resilient, jobs resilient. So I think that’s going to continue to be the real story for markets.”</span><span>Stocks on the move Wednesday included Moderna, which jumped 16% after the company agreed to pay up to two-and-a-quarter billion dollars to settle a long-running legal fight over a COVID-19 vaccine patent.</span><span>Shares of Broadcom, up more than 1% at the close, climbed further in extended trading after the chip designer forecast second-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates.</span><span>And shares of identity security company Okta, down 1% at the close, recovered that loss as shares moved higher in extended trading.</span><span>The stock gains came despite the company projecting single-digit growth for the first time since its 2017 IPO as economic uncertainty weighs on enterprise technology spending. </span><span>Okta’s revenue for its previous fiscal quarter, however, rose 11%, beating analysts’ estimates.</span>
