Wall Street Rises; Tech Drop Tempers Gains
(AP) -- Stocks edged higher in morning trading on Wall Street Tuesday as traders gear up for economic reports and company earnings to resume after the year-end holidays.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 299 points, or 0.8%, to 36,883 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.7%.
Banks were among the biggest gainers as bond yields again moved higher. Higher bond yields allow banks to charge more lucrative interest on loans.
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The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.67% from 1.63% late Monday. JPMorgan Chase rose 3.5%.
U.S. crude oil prices rose 1.6% and helped lift energy stocks. Exxon Mobil rose 3%.
A wide range of industrial and communications stocks also gained ground.
Health care and technology stocks fell and tempered the broader market's gains.
Investors have a mix of economic and corporate news to focus on in the first week of the new year as they try to gauge economic growth with the virus pandemic and persistently rising inflation.
OPEC and allied oil-producing countries plan to stick with their road map to slowly restore cuts in output made during the depths of the pandemic, including adding 400,000 barrels per day in February.
Wall Street is also monitoring updates this week on the manufacturing and service sectors. The Labor Department's closely watched jobs report, for December, will be released Friday.
Walgreens, Constellation Brands and Conagra report their latest quarterly earnings on Thursday.
Investors are also anticipating the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting in December, set for release on Wednesday. The central bank plans to hasten the withdrawal of its support for the markets and economy in the face of rising inflation. It will speed up its withdrawal of bond purchases that have helped keep interest rates low and investors are closely watching the Fed for any signals on eventually raising benchmark interest rates.