Dow hits record on the back of Coca-Cola, 3M earnings, S&P 500 is flat: Live updates

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new intraday record 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 was last higher by 299 points, or 0.6%, and the broad market S&P 500 rose 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lagged, falling 0.1%.

Coca-Cola and 3M supported the Dow’s move after their latest releases surpassed Wall Street’s estimates, with the two jumping 3% and 5%, respectively. Fellow old economy stock General Motors soared 15% 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 were 2% higher 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.

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 was lower by more than 2%, while Broadcom was down almost 2%. Artificial intelligence darling Nvidia pulled back nearly 1%.

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.

“If the Mag Seven can deliver on elevated profit expectations … markets could see another leg higher. Market action on Friday and Monday might suggest investors are beginning to place their chips on Big Tech ahead of key profit reports next week,” said Ameriprise Financial chief market strategist Anthony Saglimbene. “Given elevated expectations and valuations, results from this group could influence broader market direction into year-end.”

“Profit outperformance, combined with stable outlooks and strong AI tailwinds, could be greeted favorably as we move through the earnings season, though some may argue stock prices already reflect these positives,” Saglimbene added.

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.