NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is holding relatively steady following a mixed set of profit reports from such giants as McDonald’s and The Walt Disney Co. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in early trading Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 78 points, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.3%. McDonald’s and Shopify rose following their profit reports, while Super Micro Computer tumbled after its earnings and revenue came in below analysts’ expectations. Disney fell after its profit beat forecasts but its revenue fell short. The mixed trading continues a cooldown for the stock market after several sharp swings.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Markets on Wall Street ticked up modestly Wednesday as investors pored over a slew of earnings reports to assess how companies have been affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.2% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%. Nasdaq futures rose 0.2%.
McDonald's rose close to 4% in early trading after the fast food giant beat Wall Street's second-quarter sales and profit targets, boosted by its “Minecraft”-themed meal promotion and an unexpectedly strong jump in same-store sales.
McDonald's better-than-forecast results come after rivals like Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, missed revenue targets as same store sales declined 5% in the U.S. Last month, Chipotle lowered its full-year same-store sales guidance after a disappointing second quarter that saw same-store sales fall 4%.
Disney fell 2% before the bell even after the entertainment company's profit and revenue climbed in its fiscal third quarter as it continued to add subscribers to its streaming service and saw a strong performance at its domestic theme parks.
Last night, the NFL announced that it had entered into a nonbinding agreement with Disney-owned ESPN, which will give the sports broadcaster the NFL Network, NFL Fantasy and the rights to distribute the RedZone channel. The NFL will get a 10% equity stake in ESPN in the proposed deal.
Shares of the ride-hailing and delivery service Uber rose 1.6% after it beat analysts' sales and profit targets. The company, whose shares are up more than 40% this year, also announced a $20 billion stock buyback.
Reporting after the bell on Wednesday are DoorDash and Airbnb.
Stocks closed modestly lower Tuesday after a weaker-than-expected report on activity for U.S. businesses in services industries like transportation and retail added to worries that Trump’s tariffs may be hurting the U.S. economy. Conversely, such indicators raise hopes the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates before the end of the year.
Companies have been under pressure to report bigger profits after the U.S. stock market surged to record after record from a low point in April. The big rally fueled criticism that the broad market had become too expensive.
For stock prices to look like better bargains, companies could produce bigger profits, or interest rates could fall. The latter may happen in September, when the Fed has its next policy meeting.
Expectations have built sharply for a rate cut at that meeting since a report on the U.S. job market on Friday came in much weaker than economists expected. Lower interest rates would make stocks look less expensive, while also giving the overall economy a boost. The potential downside is that they could push inflation higher.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, France's CAC 40 added 0.3%, Germany's DAX edged up 0.1% and Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.2%.
Among Japanese companies reporting financial results on Wednesday, automaker Honda Motor Co. said its profit declined to about half the level of a year earlier despite strong sales in North America. Toyota Motor Corp. and electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. report their results later this week.
In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% to finish at 40,794.86. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.8% to 8,843.70. South Korea's Kospi was little changed, gaining less than 0.1% to 3,198.14.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose less than 0.1% to 24,910.63, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.5% to 3,633.99.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 97 cents to $66.13 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 98 cents to $68.62 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar slipped to 147.53 Japanese yen from 147.61 yen. The euro cost $1.1605, up from $1.1579.
Yuri Kageyama And Matt Ott, The Associated Press
