NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are rising toward records Friday as the country’s biggest banks rally on encouraging profit reports, though a slide for Tesla is keeping the market in check.
The S&P 500 was 0.5% higher in morning trading and on track to edge past its all-time high set earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 264 points, or 0.6%, and also heading toward a record. The Nasdaq composite was lagging the market with a gain of 0.1%, as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern time.
Wells Fargo jumped 5.4% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It benefited from better results from its venture-capital investments and higher fees for investment banking services, among other things.
Banks and other financial giants traditionally kick off each earnings reporting season, and BlackRock and Bank of New York Mellon also climbed after delivering results that topped analysts’ forecasts. JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s biggest bank, rose 4.5% and was the strongest single force pushing upward on the S&P 500 after it reported a milder drop in profit than analysts feared.
They helped offset the drag of Tesla, which tumbled 7.8% and was the heaviest weight on the market. The electric-vehicle maker unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi on Thursday night, but critics highlighted a lack of details about its planned rollout. Critics also pointed to how Tesla did not give any update on a lower-cost model that’s also highly anticipated.
Another automaker, Stellantis, saw its European-traded shares sink 4.6% after it announced some significant leadership changes, including the timing of CEO Carlos Tavares’ retirement. Its chief financial officer is also departing as the company formed by the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler struggles to revive sales in North America.
In the bond market, Treasury yields were mixed after the latest updates on inflation at the wholesale level and on sentiment among U.S. consumers.
Prices paid by producers were 1.8% higher in September than a year earlier. That was an improvement from August’s year-over-year inflation level, but not as much as economists expected.
Still, analysts said it likely helped calm some worries stirred a day earlier, when a separate report showed inflation at the consumer level wasn’t cooling as quickly as economists expected.
A separate report suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is weakening by more than economists feared. But the preliminary reading’s decline was still within the margin of error, according to Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers.
After Friday’s reports, traders were largely holding onto their bets that the Federal Reserve would cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point at its next meeting in November, according to data from CME Group.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.10% from 4.07% late Thursday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed’s upcoming moves, was holding at 3.96%.
In markets abroad, stocks fell 2.5% in Shanghai for their latest sharp swing ahead of a briefing scheduled for Saturday by China’s Finance Ministry. Investors hope it will unveil a big stimulus plan for the world’s second-largest economy.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
