Wall Street holds steady at the cusp of its records

Key Points

• Japan's Nikkei 225 is nearing the significant 50,000 level, boosted by expectations that Sanae Takaichi will be elected as the country's first female prime minister, promising supportive economic policies.
• U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping soon, raising hopes for easing trade tensions between the two largest economies.
• The U.S. markets made significant gains recently, with the S&P 500 approaching its all-time high amidst strong performances from major companies like Apple and Cleveland-Cliffs.
• Upcoming corporate earnings reports from companies such as Coca-Cola and Tesla are critical, as there is pressure on firms to demonstrate profitability after a substantial rally in the stock market.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is holding near its record heights on Tuesday as the floodgates open for companies reporting how much profit they made during the summer.

The S&P 500 was essentially unchanged in early trading and is sitting just 0.2% below its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 5 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.

General Motors rallied 10.2% after reporting stronger quarterly results than analysts expected, while also raising its forecasts for some full-year financial targets. CEO Mary Barra said it’s moving quickly to reduce its losses in 2026 and beyond for its electric-vehicle business, as “it is now clear” that EV adoption will be lower than planned.

Halliburton, the services provider for oil and gas producers, and Danaher, the life sciences and diagnostics company, also jumped to gains of at least 8% after delivering better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Coca-Cola gained 3.4%, and GE Aerospace flew 4.2% higher after they likewise topped Wall Street’s profit expectations.

Warner Bros. Discovery jumped 10.6% after the company, which has already said it would split Discovery Global off Warner Bros., said it’s considering other options that could be more profitable for shareholders. The company said it made the move after hearing from “multiple parties” interested in either the entire company or Warner Bros.

They helped offset a drop for PulteGroup, which fell 4.1% even though the homebuilder delivered a stronger profit than analysts expected. Northrop Grumman slipped 2.3% after its revenue for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ forecasts.

Several Big Tech stocks lost momentum, taking a break from their own rallies, and kept the market in check. A 1.3% drop for Google parent Alphabet from its all-time high was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

Other big recent winners in financial markets also took a pause. The price of gold fell 3.3% from its latest record, dropping back to $4,215.60 per ounce. It’s still up nearly 60% for the year so far.

The pressure is on companies to show that their profits are growing following a torrid rally of 35% for the S&P 500 from a low in April. It’s one way they can justify their high stock prices amid criticism that they’re too expensive.

Corporate earnings reports also have gained importance because they provide details on the strength of the U.S. economy when the U.S. government’s shutdown has delayed important economic updates. That’s making the job of the Federal Reserve more difficult, as it tries to decide whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger issue for the economy.

Despite the shutdown, the Commerce Department will release its consumer prices report on Friday, which could help guide the Fed’s interest rate policy. It’s the government’s first data release since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.3% and crept closer to the 50,000 level as conservative lawmaker Sanae Takaichi became the country’s prime minister. Investors expect her to push for lower interest rates and other policies that could help the market.

Indexes rose 1.4% in Shanghai and 0.7% in Hong Kong amid expectations that President Donald Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month during a regional summit. That’s raised hopes for an easing of trade tensions between the world’s biggest economies.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.95% from 4.00% late Monday.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.