US STOCKS-Wall Street rebounds after two-day fall; Netflix slides

* Netflix falls as subscriber growth slows
* Verizon shares fall after Q1 results
* Indexes up: Dow 0.62%, S&P 0.57%, Nasdaq 0.68%

(Adds comments, updates prices to early afternoon)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Devik Jain
April 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on
Wednesday after falling for two straight sessions, as gains in
mega-cap stocks more than offset declines in Netflix following
disappointing results.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O were the
biggest boosts on the S&P 500 index .SPX by early afternoon
trading, while streaming service provider Netflix NFLX.O
tumbled 7.3%. Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with
communication services .SPLRCL , which houses Netflix, and the
defensive utilities .SPLRCU sectors falling. The S&P 500
technology sector .SPLRCT gained 0.6%.
"Investors feel more confident of the earnings growth
prospects for technology... they would rather gravitate toward
the sure thing, which right now is tech stocks," said Sam
Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New
York.
"We're seeing a bit of a knee-jerk snapback, short-term
bounce with traders looking to take advantage of short-term
weakness."
With the first-quarter earnings season picking up pace,
analysts expect profit for S&P 500 companies to jump 31.9% from
a year earlier, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
At 12:40 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 209.36 points, or 0.62%, at 34,030.66, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 23.60 points, or 0.57%, at 4,158.54 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 93.98 points, or 0.68%, at 13,880.25.
Anthem Inc ANTM.N rose 0.3% after the health insurer
raised its full-year profit target, as lower demand for
non-COVID-19 healthcare services helped it rein in medical costs
and beat quarterly profit estimates. Shares of bigger rival UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH.N gained
0.2%, helping support the Dow Jones index.
Verizon Communications Inc VZ.N dropped 0.4% after it lost
more wireless subscribers than expected in the first quarter.
Shares of T-Mobile US Inc TMUS.O and AT&T Inc T.N were also
lower. U.S. railroad operator CSX Corp CSX.O fell 4.6% after it
missed estimates for first-quarter profit, hurt by frigid polar
vortex temperatures, ongoing pandemic disruptions and higher
fuel costs.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.39-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 3.21-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 71 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 52 new highs and 49 new lows.