NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stocks hovered near record highs Tuesday after several major banks posted summer profits that beat analysts' expectations as oil prices fell again.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% in early trading, a day after setting an all-time high. Best ever This year is the 46th time. As of 9:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 256 points, or 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.3%.
Bank of America and Goldman Sachs both rose at least 1% after the companies reported stronger results in the latest quarter than analysts had feared, while Charles Schwab's brokerage account The company also achieved higher-than-expected profits, resulting in an 8.4% increase in the number of customers opening .
Walgreens Boots Alliance was another winner, beating analyst expectations and rising 10.7%. The drugstore chain said it would do the same. Approximately 1,200 stores closed Over the next three years, the company will aim to rebuild its sluggish U.S. business.
Chipmaker Wolfspeed soared 35.8%, narrowing its annual loss to 64.5% after the Biden-Harris administration announced plans on Tuesday to provide up to $20 billion in funding. $750 million in direct funding to the company. The funding will support a new silicon carbide plant in North Carolina that will manufacture wafers used in cutting-edge computer chips.
That helped offset Exxon Mobil's 2.8% decline and other energy companies' steep losses as oil prices fell more than 4%. A barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, has fallen below $74 from above $80 last week for several reasons.
There are growing concerns that China's economic downturn could lead to weaker-than-expected demand for crude oil, leading to excess inventories. Concerns that Israel could attack Iranian oil facilities as part of pending retaliation against Iran also receded. Missile attack earlier this month. Iran is a major producer of crude oil, and even more worrying than this hit to supplies was the possibility that an escalation of the war could involve other major oil exporters.
UnitedHealth Group also weighed on the U.S. stock market. Shares fell 9.5% even though the company reported results for its latest quarter that beat analysts' expectations. The upper limit of the full-year profit forecast range has been lowered.
Bond markets resumed trading in U.S. Treasuries after the holiday Monday, with yields falling after a weaker-than-expected report on New York state manufacturing.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 4.05% from 4.10% late Friday. Manufacturing has been one of the sectors of the U.S. economy hardest hit by high interest rates caused by the Federal Reserve's efforts to slow the economy to quell high inflation.
But now the Fed has begun cutting interest rates more broadly. keep the economy strong instead of just Fighting high inflation.
In a recent report, The US economy remains stronger than expected There is also growing optimism that the Fed can achieve the perfect landing of bringing inflation down to 2% without causing the recession that many thought was necessary.
In overseas stock markets, Chinese stocks plunged as doubts persisted over whether the government would provide funding. Adequate fiscal stimulus To support the world's second largest economy.
Shanghai stocks fell 2.5%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 3.7%.
In other parts of Asia and Europe, the index was mixed.
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AP Business writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
