Wall Street surges following strong profits as earnings season kicks off; UBS sees ‘bull market intact’

The S&P 500 rose 0.8%, coming off a roller-coaster day where it careened between a sharp loss and modest gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 254 points, or 0.5%, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.

UBS Global Wealth Management released a research note on Wednesday morning, citing the trend that early-reporting companies “tend to have a good relationship with how the rest of earnings season plays out.” With a little less than 10% of the S&P 500 market cap reporting, the team led by David Lefkowitz, Head of US Equities, characterized the results as “decent,” with 80% beating sales estimates and just over 70% beating earnings-per-share estimates. That’s better than normal, UBS said, but so the scope of these beats is a little light as the median company is beating earnings by 2.2%, versus the historical average of 3.5%. 

Overall, UBS added, it sees third quarter earnings season as supportive of the bank’s view that “the bull market remains intact,” driven by the combination of durable earnings growth and Fed rate cuts.

Tech stocks helped lead the way on Wednesday, thanks in part to a profit report from ASML, which is a major supplier to the semiconductor industry. The Dutch company said it expects its revenue for 2025 to be 15% above last year’s, while next year’s should be at least as high as this year’s.

“On the market side, we have seen continued positive momentum around investments in AI,” CEO Christophe Fouquet said, “and have also seen this extending to more customers.” That’s key when worries have been high that a bubble may be forming in artificial-intelligence technology, with too much investment flowing in akin to the 2000 dot-com frenzy.

Outside of ASML’s 3.3% rise in Amsterdam, Broadcom rallied 3.4% on Wall Street, and Nvidia added 0.9%. The chip companies were two of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.

Also helping the market were several big banks. Bank of America climbed 5.2% after delivering a profit for the latest quarter that was stronger than analysts expected. CEO Brian Moynihan said every line of the bank’s business reported growth.

Morgan Stanley climbed 6.4% after likewise reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected. That followed better-than-expected profit reports from several banks the day before, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

They helped offset a 4% loss for PNC Financial. It reported a stronger-than-expected profit for the latest quarter, but it also gave a forecast for upcoming earnings that some analysts said was below expectations.

Abbott Laboratories sank 3.6% after its revenue for the latest quarter finished just shy of analysts’ expectations.

Companies are under pressure to deliver strong profits after their stock prices broadly surged 35% from a low in April. To justify those gains, which critics say made their stock prices too expensive, companies will need to show they’re making much more in profit and will continue to do so.

Corporate profit reports are also under more scrutiny than usual as investors hunt for clues about the health of the U.S. economy. That’s because the U.S. government’s latest shutdown is delaying important updates on the economy, such as the report on inflation that was supposed to arrive Wednesday.

The lack of such reports is making the job more difficult for the Federal Reserve, which is trying to figure out whether high inflation or a slowing job market is the bigger problem for the economy.

The Fed cut its main interest rate last month for the first time this year, and officials indicated more may be on the way in hopes of giving the job market a boost. But too low interest rates can push upward on inflation, which has already been stubbornly stuck above the Fed’s 2% target.

Comments from the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, on Tuesday may have hinted more cuts to rates may be on the way. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.01% from 4.03% late Tuesday.

Also weighing on the market recently have been worries about escalating tensions between the United States and China. President Donald Trump has gone back and forth in his criticism of China, particularly about restrictions it’s placed on exports of rare earths, which are materials that are critical for the manufacturing of everything from consumer electronics to jet engines.

One big winner because of all the uncertainty has been gold, and its price rose 1.3% to top $4,200 per ounce. It’s up nearly 60% for the year so far as investors look to buy something that can offer protection from trade wars, real military wars and the prospect of higher inflation coming because of mountains of debt being amassed by the U.S. and other governments worldwide.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe after a stronger finish in Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.7%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 2.1% for two of the world’s bigger moves.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.