Stock market today: Live updates

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had a record-setting session on Tuesday, boosted by strong earnings reports from companies such as Coca-Cola and 3M, while the S&P 500 was relatively unchanged.

The 30-stock index gained 218 points, or 0.5%, and the broad market S&P 500 closed just above the flatline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lagged, falling roughly 0.2%.

Coca-Cola and 3M supported the Dow’s move after their latest releases surpassed Wall Street’s estimates, jumping 4% and 7.7%, respectively. Fellow old economy stock General Motors soared 14.9% after it hiked its guidance for the full year and topped estimates. The Detroit automaker also lowered its estimated impact from President Donald Trump’s tariffs for the year, saying that it expects to offset about 35% of that hit.

Meanwhile, other names like Zions Bancorp gained more than 1% after the regional bank reported third-quarter profits that rose from a year ago, despite the disclosure of some bad loans late last week that sparked a broader market rout.

“This is a good sign that big multinational stocks are posting better than expected results,” said Louis Navellier, founder and chief investment officer at Navellier & Associates. “This essentially means the Q3 announcement season is off to a strong start and that we are going to have a great year-end rally.”

Tech stocks took a bit of a hit during Tuesday’s session, however, after Trump sparked some uncertainty about his expected meeting next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “Maybe it won’t happen,” the president said. Alphabet and Broadcom were each down around 2%. Artificial intelligence darling Nvidia pulled back nearly 1%.

Tech investors are counting on friendlier relations with China that lowers tariff rates and keeps the semiconductor industry out of the fray.

Earnings underway

Investors are monitoring a crucial week ahead for third-quarter earnings, which are revving up with Netflix set to report after the bell Tuesday and Tesla due Wednesday. A strong start to the earnings season so far appears to be supporting the broader market rally, particularly amid an economic data blackout due to the government shutdown.

More than three-quarters of the S&P 500 companies that have posted results so far have beaten expectations, according to FactSet data. Major tech companies are expected to account for a dominant portion of profits as the AI trade remains strong, with the “Magnificent Seven” companies expected to report year-over-year earnings growth of 14.9%, compared with 6.7% for the index’s remaining 493 companies, per FactSet.

Propping up sentiment is also the market’s anticipation of another quarter percentage point rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s late October meeting. Consumer price index data due Friday is expected to give clues on the state of inflation, which could influence the central bank’s upcoming decision.