NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are rising toward records Friday as big banks rally on a rush of reassuring profit reports.
The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher in midday trading and on track to top its all-time high set earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 376 points, or 0.8%, and also heading toward a record, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite was lagging the market with a gain of 0.3% after a slide for Tesla kept it in check.
Wells Fargo jumped 5.9% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It benefited from better results from its venture-capital investments and higher fees for investment-banking services, among other things.
Banks and other financial giants traditionally kick off each earnings reporting season, and BlackRock and Bank of New York Mellon also climbed after delivering results that topped analysts’ forecasts. BlackRock, the investment giant, said it ended the summer managing a record $11.5 trillion in total assets for its customers.
JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s biggest bank, rose 5.4% and was the strongest single force pushing upward on the S&P 500 after it reported a milder drop in profit than analysts feared. CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank is still buying back shares of its stock to send cash to investors, but the pace is modest “given that market levels are at least slightly inflated.”
The gains for banks helped make up for the drag of Tesla, which tumbled 8.1% and was the heaviest weight on the market. The electric-vehicle maker unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi on Thursday night, but critics highlighted a lack of details about its planned rollout.
Following the unveiling of the “Cybercab,” potential rival Uber Technologies jumped 9.7% and was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. Lyft rose even more, 10.1%.
Another automaker, Stellantis, saw its European-traded shares sink 4.6% after it announced some significant leadership changes, including the timing of CEO Carlos Tavares’ retirement. Its chief financial officer is also departing as the company formed by the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler struggles to revive sales in North America.
In the bond market, Treasury yields were holding relatively steady after the latest updates on inflation at the wholesale level and on sentiment among U.S. consumers.
Prices paid by producers were 1.8% higher in September than a year earlier. That was an improvement from August’s year-over-year inflation level, but not as much as economists expected. Analysts said it likely helped calm worries stirred a day earlier, when a separate report showed inflation at the consumer level wasn’t cooling as quickly as economists expected.
A separate report suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is weakening by more than economists feared. But the preliminary reading’s decline was still within the margin of error, according to Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers.
After Friday’s reports, traders were holding onto their bets that the Federal Reserve would cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point at its next meeting, according to data from CME Group.
They’ve pared back their expectations from earlier this month, when some were betting on the possibility for another larger-than-usual cut of half a percentage point in November. A run of stronger-than-expected data on the economy wiped out such calls.
Regardless of how much the Fed cuts rates by at its next meeting, the longer-term trend for interest rates is still downward, according to Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer Americas, at UBS Global Wealth Management. That should benefit stock prices generally.
The Fed last month cut its main interest rate from a two-decade high as it widens its focus to include keeping the economy humming instead of just fighting high inflation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding at 4.07%, where it was late Thursday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed’s upcoming moves, edged down to 3.95% from 3.96%.
In markets abroad, stocks fell 2.5% in Shanghai for their latest sharp swing ahead of a briefing scheduled for Saturday by China’s Finance Ministry. Investors hope it will unveil a big stimulus plan for the world’s second-largest economy.
South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.1% after its central bank cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years in hopes of boosting its economy.
___
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
