Wall Street Ticks Higher Wednesday

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street is ticking higher Wednesday after Ford Motor and other big stocks rose following their latest earnings reports.

The S&P 500 was up 0.4% in early trading and on track to return to a record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 141 points higher, or 0.4%, as of 9:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.4%.

The modest moves for the indexes belied some sharp swings for stocks underneath the surface. New York Community Bancorp, for example, went from an initial gain to a loss of 6% for its latest zigzag. It's down more than 60% since rattling investors across the banking industry a week ago with a surprise loss.

It's struggling with challenges specific to its acquisition of Signature Bank, which was one of the banks that collapsed in last year's mini-crisis for the industry. But New York Community Bancorp is also feeling pain from a problem dogging banks worldwide: weakness in commercial real estate.

Moody's downgraded the bank's credit rating late Wednesday to "junk" status from the lowest tier of investment-grade. Analysts also said they were concerned about the departures of the bank's chief risk and chief audit officers.

New York Community Bancorp's stock then went on a wild ride in off-hours trading, sinking and then rising after the bank said it had increased its deposits and gave details about how much cash it has on hand.

Stocks of other regional banks have been caught up in the drama, to a lesser degree, which has brought back uncomfortable memories of last year's banking crisis. The KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking index fell 1%.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Chipotle Mexican Grill rose 6.6% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its restaurants sold more meals to customers than they did a year earlier. CVS Health gained 3% after it likewise topped expectations for both profit and revenue in the final three months of 2023. The drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager, though, also trimmed its forecast for full-year results.

They helped offset a 10.8% drop for VF Corp., the company behind Vans, The North Face and other brands. It reported weaker results than analysts expected.

Snap tumbled 32% after its fourth-quarter revenue fell short of analysts' expectations. The social media company also gave a tepid forecast for 2024 after saying on Monday that it was laying off 10% of its workforce.

In the bond market, Treasury yields were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding steady at 4.09%, where it was late Tuesday. It's been on a jagged run recently as signals of a remarkably resilient economy force traders to push back forecasts for when the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates.

While a delay in rate cuts hurts the stock market, strong economic data also carry an upside for investors. They should mean stronger profits for companies.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were modest lower in Europe and mixed in Asia.

Stocks rose 1.4% in Shanghai but slipped 0.3% in Hong Kong following moves this week by authorities to prop up what have been some of the world's worst-performing markets this year.