The U.S. stock market is ticking toward its first gain in four days following strong profit reports from many big companies, while pressure eased on Wall Street from the bond market.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent early Wednesday and pulled closer to its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 62 points, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.6 per cent.
TJX Cos. Inc., the company behind TJ Maxx, Marshalls and other stores, rose 5.4 per cent after delivering stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Treasury yields edged lower in the bond market. Crude oil prices fell.
Early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil fell US$2.65 to US$101.50 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost US$2.89 to US$108.39 per barrel. But gasoline prices in the U.S. continued to rise.
The average price for a gallon of gasoline rose three cents overnight to US$4.56, according to the AAA motor club, or about 43 per cent more than it cost last year at this time.
In equities trading, Target rose two per cent after the Minneapolis retailer reported a jump in first quarter sales and raised its annual revenue outlook.
Target, which embarked on a turnaround plan under its new CEO earlier this year, said it expects the momentum to continue through 2026.
Attention Wednesday will be focused on Nvidia’s quarterly results due after the closing bell. The chip company has routinely blown past analysts’ expectations each quarter and provided forecasts for future growth that have consistently topped Wall Street’s.
How it does could determine whether technology stocks and the larger U.S. stock market can maintain their rally. Nvidia fell 0.8 per cent Tuesday and was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 because of its immense size. Its shares were up 1.8 per cent in premarket trading Wednesday.
Many big U.S. companies have been reporting stronger-than-expected profits for the latest quarter thanks in part to their customers continuing to spend despite high gasoline prices and other challenges. That’s helped vault U.S. stock indexes to records, but disquiet in the bond market is threatening that.
At midday in Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 0.5 per cent, while the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.6 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was effectively unchanged.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 1.2 per cent to 59,804.41.
The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond slipped to just below 2.8% but remained at its highest level since 1997.
Chinese shares also fell, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng losing 0.6 per cent to 25,656.12. The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.3 per cent to 4,162.10.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.3 per cent to 8,496.60.
In South Korea, the Kospi dropped 0.9 per cent to 7,208.95 after a broad sell-off a day earlier. Taiwan’s Taiex gave up 0.4 per cent.
Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott, The Associated Press
