U.S. stock indexes opened higher on Wednesday as investors weigh earnings reports and await economic data after kicking off August with back-to-back losses.What’s happening
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+1.04%
gained 270 points, or 0.8% to 32,666
The S&P 500
SPX,
+1.25%
rose 40 points, or 1% to 4,131
The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+2.08%
went up 217 points, or 1.8% to 12,565
Stocks ended a choppy session with hefty losses Tuesday, with the Dow
DJIA,
+1.04%
dropping over 400 points, or 1.2%, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+1.25%
lost 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+2.08%
ticked down 0.2%.
What’s driving the market A busy week of corporate earnings reports continues, as investors assess a string of results from tech-related companies and others. “I think if earnings come in sort of mid to high single digits, it’s a meaningful positive because I think one of the pillars of the bears case is that earnings estimates have to be rerouted dramatically lower and so far even with some high profile (companies), that’s not been the case,” Timothy Holland, chief investment officer at Orion Advisor Solutions, said in an interview. In U.S. economic data, an ISM barometer of business conditions at companies in July rose to a three-month high of 56.7%, suggesting the economy continues to expand despite growing headwinds. U.S. factory orders rose 2% in June, the government said Wednesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 1.2% gain. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan Wednesday after meeting with the island’s president. Pelosi’s visit angered Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of its territory and said it would conduct live-fire military exercises in areas around the island this week. “While it’s settling maybe from a geopolitical perspective, for some folks it seems to have gone as smoothly as one could have hoped. And I’m sure that’s probably creating a bit of short-term comfort for folks,” Holland said in an interview. “Today, the market is judging China’s response to be mild, and U.S. rates have stabilized,” said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex, in a note. Still, inflation remains a major focus. On Tuesday, stocks wavered as San Francisco President Mary Daly and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said the Fed likely needs to raise interest rates a lot higher and probably keep them high for a while to rein in inflation. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, in remarks late Tuesday, argued that the central bank can restore inflation to pre-pandemic lows without triggering a recession, partly because neither investors nor consumers expect prices to keep rising rapidly. Bullard, who sounded the alarm about rising inflation last year, well before the rest of his colleagues, has been among the most hawkish Fed policymakers.Companies in focus
Robinhood Markets Inc.
HOOD,
+13.16%
said late Tuesday that it plans to cut i …