The S&P 500 gained 11.42 points, or 0.2%, to 4,954.23, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 141.24, or 0.4%, to 38,521.36, and the Nasdaq composite rose 11.32, or 0.1%, to 15,609.00
Wall Street rose Tuesday as the bond market calmed down following some sharp swings.
The S&P 500 gained 11.42 points, or 0.2%, to 4,954.23 and nearly returned to its all-time high set at the end of last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 141.24, or 0.4%, to 38,521.36, and the Nasdaq composite rose 11.32, or 0.1%, to 15,609.00.
Stocks have been under some pressure recently as hints keep coming that the Fed likely won’t deliver cuts to interest rates as soon as traders had expected. The economy has remained remarkably solid, even though the Fed has hiked rates to slow it and inflation down. That has pushed some forecasts for the first easing of rates from March into the summer.
If easier interest rates in the short term won’t raise stock prices, the hope is that strong profits by companies will.
GE Healthcare Technologies was the day’s best performer in the S&P 500 and climbed 11.6% after reporting healthier profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Palantir Technologies, one of the firms that has been riding a frenzy on Wall Street around AI technology, surged 30.8% after its results for the latest quarter roughly matched analysts’ expectations. The data analytics company brought in slightly more revenue than analysts expected, and its CEO said it is seeing soaring demand across industries for AI platforms.
Streaming music and podcast platform Spotify jumped 3.9% after it reported stronger-than-expected growth in its subscriber base, even as revenue missed analysts’ expectations.
Those gains helped to offset an 11.5% decline for FMC, whose products help protect crops. The firm’s profit and revenue fell short of analysts’ estimates, in part because of drought conditions in Brazil.
Fiserv was another laggard. The payments and financial technology firm dropped 2.1% after its revenue for the latest quarter fell just short of analysts’ estimates. Its profit nonetheless topped forecasts.
With earnings season at about the midway point for the big companies in the S&P 500 index, there are still plenty of heavyweights reporting this week including CVS Health, The Walt Disney Co. and PepsiCo.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury declined after its slingshot ride higher in recent days. It dropped to 4.09% from 4.17% late Monday.
Strong reports on the job market, services industries and other areas of the U.S. economy have pushed yields much higher, up from 3.88% less than a week ago. Traders are now betting on less than a 20% chance that the Fed will begin lowering rates in March, down from 68% a month ago, per data from CME Group.