After a dull start to August, the Wall Exchange’s major indexes bounced back on Wednesday thanks to strong results from companies such as PayPal Inc. and CVS Health.
The Q2 earnings season helped the market bounce back from concerns over the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, rising COVID-19 cases in China and an aggressive rise in borrowing costs.
The benchmark S&P 500 is up about 14.2% from a mid-June low, but is still in a good market and is down 12.8% for the year.
Market participants will keep a close eye on labor market data expected on Thursday and Friday, after an unexpected rebound in services activity in July eased fears of a recession.
Weekly jobless claims data, later in the day, may suggest some easing in the labor market, although overall conditions remain tight.
Friday’s July non-farm payrolls report is also important as the US Federal Reserve tries to cool demand for labor to control inflation.
As of 7:24 a.m. ET, the Dow e-minis were up 36 points, or 0.11%, the S&P 500 e-minis were up 6 points, or 0.14%, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 28.25 points, or 0.21%.
Shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd jumped 5.1% in early-market trading after the Chinese tech giant beat market expectations, although gains stalled for the first time due to the impact of the Shanghai lockdown.
ConocoPhillips gained 3.2% as the U.S. oil producer raised its forecast for capital repayments to $15 billion for 2022 after posting a second-quarter profit that more than doubled as oil prices rose.
Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. fell 3.4% as it cut its full-year profit forecast after reporting a second straight quarterly profit loss due to lower oil prices and competition for insulin and its cancer drug, Alimat.
