Stock market today: Wall Street's main indices advance as financial results begin

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes on Wall Street were up slightly in afternoon trading Tuesday as earnings season heats up for big companies.

The S&P 500 index rose 0.1% after fluctuating between small gains and losses. Stocks in the benchmark index were roughly evenly split between gainers and losers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 58 points, or 0.1%, as of 2:41 p.m. ET, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.1%.

Dozen of companies report their results for spring On Tuesday, two highly influential tech companies emerged after the close of trading for the day, Alphabet and Tesla. Expectations are generally high, with analysts predicting the strongest earnings growth for S&P 500 companies since late 2021, according to FactSet.

GE Aerospace rose 6.6% after beating analysts' earnings forecasts in the spring and raising its full-year profit forecast, one of the biggest factors supporting the S&P 500.

Danaher rose 6% after also reporting profit and revenue that beat analysts' expectations for the latest quarter, partly thanks to strength in its Cepheid molecular testing business.

Sherwin-Williams climbed 7% after also reporting a higher-than-expected profit. The company said it saw growth in demand for paint from new residential customers and expected that momentum to continue throughout the year.

Through its customers, the painting and coatings company feels the pain of high interest rates supposed to control inflation. High mortgage rates, for example, have cooled the real estate sector, and a report released Tuesday showed Sales of already occupied homes have declined Sales have slowed in part because prices for already occupied homes are at their highest level on record, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Rates could see a more benign period. With inflation slowing, Wall Street expects the Federal Reserve to begin cutting its key interest rate in September. That would provide some relief to the economy and financial markets after the Fed kept the federal funds rate at its highest level in more than two decades.

Treasury yields have been falling since the spring on those expectations, and they fell again slightly on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.24% from 4.25% late Monday.

Hopes of lower interest rates have helped small stocks rally in particular. They can benefit more from lower interest rates than their larger rivals, and the small-cap Russell 2000 rose 1%, a market record. It’s a turnaround after smaller companies lagged larger stocks, led by a small group known as the “Magnificent Seven,” for a while.

Analysts see it as an encouraging signal that more stocks are participating in a rising market, rather than just a few dominant elites.

UPS fell 13.4% on Wall Street after reporting earnings and revenue that missed analysts' expectations in the spring. But CEO Carol Tom said the company's U.S. business delivered more packages than a year earlier, down 1.5% from a year earlier. first growth of this type in nine quarters, and we called it a significant turning point for our business.

Comcast fell 2.3% after reporting lower-than-expected spring revenue. Its biggest declines came from lower attendance at its U.S. theme parks and studios, which haven't been as successful as last year's Super Mario Bros. and Fast X movies.

In foreign stock markets, indices were mixed in Asia and Europe.

Chinese markets were among the weakest, with stocks falling 0.9% in Hong Kong and 1.6% in Shanghai. Analysts called the Chinese central bank's moves to cut its two main interest rates on Monday unencouraging.

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AP Business reporters Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.