Wall Street tiptoes toward more records as its busy week picks up momentum
The S&P 500 was up 0.2 per cent in early trading after setting an all-time high in six straight days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.5 per cent to its own record.
JetBlue Airways climbed 14.4 per cent, and SoFi Technologies jumped 16.2 per cent, but Merck dropped 7.8 per cent following a growing torrent of profit reports from big U.S. companies.
They're among the hundreds of companies telling investors this week how much they made during the spring, including nearly a third of the stocks in the S&P 500 index.
Treasury yields were easing a bit in the bond market as the U.S. Federal Reserve gets set to begin a two-day meeting where they will decide what to do with short-term interest rates.
Despite angry lobbying from U.S. President Donald Trump for lower rates, which would give the economy a boost, the widespread expectation is that the Fed will wait for more data about how Trump's tariffs are affecting inflation and the economy before making its next move.
Chinese stock indexes, meanwhile, were mixed as top trade officials from the world's two largest economies headed into a second day of talks about tariffs. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng were meeting in Sweden's capital and working against an Aug. 12 deadline. If they don't reach a deal or at least an extension on their truce by then, triple-digit tariffs are set to resume.
Later this week, another deadline is looming on Friday for many of Trump's proposed tariffs on other countries. And if that weren't enough, several highly anticipated economic reports are also on the way, including the latest monthly update on the job market.
This jam-packed week could prove pivotal in determining whether the U.S. stock market can keep climbing to more records or succumb to criticism that it's grown too expensive following its quick leap in recent months.
One way companies can tamp down such criticism is to deliver solid growth in profits.
That helped Beyond, whose stock came into the day with a gain of nearly 109 per cent for the year so far. The company, which owns Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock and other brands, reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It lost US$19 million during the quarter, but that was better than forecast, and its stock rose 3.4 per cent.
But investors have also been punishing stocks of companies that have failed to meet expectations so far this reporting season.
UnitedHealth Group dropped 5.1 per cent after reporting a profit for the spring that fell short of analysts' expectations. It also gave a forecast for profit over all of 2025 that investors found disappointing. The health care giant said it expected to earn at least $16 per share, when analysts were looking for something close to $20, according to FactSet.
In stock markets abroad, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.8 per cent, but indexes elsewhere rose across much of Asia and Europe.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury eased to 4.39 per cent from 4.42 per cent late Monday.
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AP business writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
By Stan Choe
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