US: Indexes end higher as investors weigh key corporate earnings
US STOCKS ended higher on Thursday as investors digested a stack of key earnings reports, with upbeat comments from Tesla helping to offset a disappointing forecast from Microsoft.
Indexes briefly lost ground late in the session after US President Donald Trump repeated that the United States will impose a 25 per cent tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada.
Tesla shares were among the biggest boosts to the S&P 500.
CEO Elon Musk vowed to launch long-awaited cheaper models in the first half of 2025 and start testing an autonomous ride-hailing service in June. The comments overshadowed its quarterly results that fell short of expectations.
Also helping the S&P 500 was Meta, whose shares gained after the company beat Wall Street’s fourth-quarter revenue estimates but said current-quarter sales may not meet forecasts. IBM shares jumped after the company surpassed fourth-quarter profit expectations.
Shares of Microsoft dropped after the company forecast disappointing growth in its cloud computing business.
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Investors also took in comments from the CEOs of Meta and Microsoft defending their heavy investments in artificial intelligence, days after Chinese startup DeepSeek unveiled a breakthrough in cheap AI models that rattled Wall Street and triggered a sell-off in AI-linked stocks.
Investors have been worried about the impact of tariffs on the US economy and inflation.
“Until we understand what tariff policies, what fiscal policies are going to go into play, it’s going to be very difficult for the market to find a trajectory that is sustainable,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice-president, advisor for Wealthspire Advisors in Westport, Connecticut.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 30.35 points, or 0.50 per cent, to end at 6,069.66 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 45.72 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 19,678.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 166.09 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 44,879.61.
The Fed on Wednesday kept interest rates unchanged and removed language acknowledging easing inflation from its latest policy meeting statement.
More than 70 per cent of S&P 500 company earnings for the final quarter of 2024 have beaten analysts’ expectations, LSEG data showed.
Among other outlooks, United Parcel Service forecast 2025 revenue below expectations and its shares weighed on the Dow Jones Transportation Average.
Results from Apple and Intel are due after the closing bell. REUTERS
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