Stock market today: Wall Street advances as new profits arrive ahead of inflation data

Wall Street pointed higher early Wednesday as investors pore over more corporate earnings data ahead of a major inflation update later in the week.

The future of the S&The P 500 was up 0.2% before the bell and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were virtually unchanged. Tech-heavy Nasdaq futures rose nearly 0.7%.

Tesla jumped 11.6% in after-hours trading, recouping some of its recent losses after the electric car maker said it would ramp up production of new, more affordable vehicles. Investors have been waiting for a sign that Tesla will take steps to stem its stock's slide this year.

Shares of Boeing jumped 3.1% even as the planemaker announced Wednesday that it lost $355 million due to a decline in first-quarter revenue. Boeing faces growing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from whistleblowers.

Boeing's CEO said the company was going through tough times and was focused on solving its manufacturing problems, not the bottom line.

Automaker Ford and Facebook owner Meta release their most recent quarterly financial results after the bell on Wednesday.

In Europe at midday, the German DAX was up 0.3% and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.4%. In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.6%.

In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained more than 900 points, or 2.4 percent, to close at 38,460.08.

Shares of computer chip company Renesas Electronics Corp. jumped 10.5%, while rival Tokyo Electronic jumped 7.1%.

Investors are waiting to see how Japan's central bank and its Finance Ministry will respond to the prolonged weakness of the yen, which is trading at a 34-year low, at a policy meeting that begins Thursday.

The U.S. dollar rose to 154.99 Japanese yen on Wednesday, from 154.82 yen late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.0688 from $1.0699.

Market participants will be closely watching updates for any indications on how the Bank of Japan may respond to foreign exchange pressures during this week's policy meeting, Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary.

Greater China stocks also rebounded.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 2.1% to 17,176.31, while the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 3.4%. Shares of Chinese artificial intelligence company Sensetime Groups jumped 31.2% after Tuesday's release of the latest version of its SenseNova generative AI model.

The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.8% to 3,044.82.

Taiwan's Taiex gained 2.7%.

In South Korea, the Kospi added 2% to 2,675.75, led by a 4% gain in heavyweight Samsung Electronics.

Australia S&The P/ASX 200 Index was unchanged at 7,683.00 after reporting a fifth consecutive quarter of decelerating inflation, with the first quarter Consumer Price Index falling to 3.6% from 4.1% previously.

On Friday, the government releases its monthly consumer spending report, which contains a measure of inflation closely watched by the Federal Reserve.

Senior Fed officials warned last week that they may need to keep interest rates high for some time to ensure inflation moves toward their 2% target. This was a big disappointment for financial markets, dashing hopes raised after the US central bank earlier signaled that three interest rate cuts could take place this year.

A rate cut appeared to be on the horizon after inflation slowed sharply last year. But a series of reports this year showing that inflation remained higher than expected has raised concerns that progress is stalling.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude lost 35 cents to $83.01 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 25 cents to $87.14 a barrel.

Tuesday, the S&The P 500 climbed 1.2% to 5,070.55, moving further out of the hole created by a six-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 38,503.69 and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.6% to 15,696.64.