Asian stocks gain as BOJ stands tall

NEW YORK (AP) Wall Street is higher on Friday as the market ends a week of sharp deviations with another round of corporate earnings reports that mostly beat expectations.

The S&P 500 was up 0.6% at noon. Despite its big swings earlier this week, it’s still on track to end April with a gain. Markets are shaking amid unanswered questions about the direction the economy is heading and corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 213 points, or 0.6%, to 34,039 at noon Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was up 0.3%.

Exxon Mobil was one of the strongest risers in the market after rising 2.2%. It posted higher profits and revenue for the last quarter than expected.

Intel gained 4.4% after reporting a smaller-than-expected loss and stronger revenue for the latest quarter. Mondelez International, the grocery giant behind Oreo and Ritz, rose 4.4% after beating Wall Street estimates. It also raised its full-year revenue and profit forecasts.

They helped offset a 3.9% decline for Amazon, which weighed heavily on the market despite reporting stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for the last quarter. Analysts pointed to a slowdown in revenue growth from its AWS cloud computing business.

Snap fell 17.8% after its last quarter revenue fell short of expectations. Pinterest also fell sharply, down 17.4%, despite stronger than expected results. Analysts pointed to its growth forecast for the current quarter, which appeared more lukewarm than some had expected.

Wall Street has focused heavily on what CEOs are saying about their upcoming trends, given the uncertainty surrounding the direction of the economy and interest rates. The economy is slowing under the weight of much higher interest rates intended to keep high inflation in check.

The majority of companies so far this reporting season have exceeded expectations, but the bar has been set considerably low for the first three months of the year. Wall Street fears that the lingering weakness could lead to a third straight drop in earnings for S&P 500 companies in the second quarter of the year.

Recent economic reports confirmed Wall Street’s expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again at its next meeting next week. Some traders are also betting on the possibility that the Fed could raise rates again in June.

A report released on Friday said the inflation measure the Fed prefers to use was close to expectations for March, but still well above target.

Workers’ compensation also rose more in the first three months of the year than economists had expected. While this is good news for workers trying to keep up with ever-rising prices at cash registers, the Fed fears it could further entrench high inflation.

Other reports indicate that business trends in the Chicago area continue to weaken, but not as much as expected, while consumer sentiment was little changed in April.

Ultimately, inflation is still above target and the Fed is poised to raise interest rates again next week and leave them at elevated levels for a while, Mike said. Loewengart, head of model portfolio construction at Morgan Stanley Global Investment Office.

High rates fight inflation by slowing down the overall economy and hurting investment prices. Many investors are preparing for a possible recession this year.

The Fed raised its overnight rate to its highest level since before the Great Recession of 2007-2009, up from a record low, after a series of hikes since the start of last year. Together, they have already slowed economic growth to an estimated annual rate of 1.1% earlier this year.

They have also caused cracks in the banking system, with the second and third largest US bank failures in history rocking global markets last month. Investors are looking for other weak links, and the spotlight has been particularly harsh on First Republic Bank.

Its stock fell by about half on Tuesday after giving details of the amount of deposits from its customers. The First Republic again halved around Friday and is down almost 79% for the week.

The Federal Reserve released a report on Friday blaming the failure of Silicon Valley Bank on a combination of poor banking management, weakened regulations and lax government supervision. The collapse of this bank is what sparked turmoil in the industry last month.

In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 3.44% from 3.52% on Thursday evening. It helps set the rates for mortgages and other large loans. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks Fed expectations, fell to 4.05% from 4.08%.

In foreign markets, equity indices were mixed in Europe and mostly higher in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index jumped 1.4% and the Japanese yen fell against the dollar. In its first policy meeting under its new governor, Kazuo Ueda, the Bank of Japan kept its key rate at -0.1% even as inflation in the country continues to exceed its target.

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AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed.