Wall St higher as big corporate earnings lift sentiment

Wall Street's main indexes have moved slightly higher, as some upbeat earnings reports from large corporates brought relief to investors awaiting US President Donald Trump's next move on trade restrictions and other federal policies.

Drugmaker Eli Lilly rose 2.5 per cent after the company forecast annual profit largely above estimates, while Coach-parent Tapestry jumped 15.3 per cent on annual sales and profit forecast raise.

Philip Morris International advanced 8.6 per cent after the cigarette maker posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

Shares of Honeywell fell 4.4 per cent after the industrial and aerospace giant said it would split into three independently listed companies and forecast downbeat sales and profit for 2025.

Amazon.com, which is set to report after markets close, is under pressure to deliver on lofty cloud computing expectations.

In early trading on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 8.51 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 44,892.21, the S&P 500 gained 13.84 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 6,075.32 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 45.93 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 19,737.59.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher, with consumer staples leading gains with a 0.9 per cent rise, hitting an over seven-week high.

Markets saw a dismal start to the week when Trump announced sweeping trade tariffs over the weekend, but suspended the levies on goods from Mexico and Canada on Monday for a month.

Although many uncertainties remain under Trump's new administration, Wall Street was relieved that things were not worse, particularly with regard to counter-tariffs against the United States from Beijing.

"There's so many moving parts with the new administration and new executive orders every day... it doesn't surprise me that the market has been vacillating between optimism and pessimism since (the start of the year)," said Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management.

Traders do not expect the Fed to make a move on interest rates in its next meeting in March, but a cut is widely anticipated in June, according to the CME's FedWatch.

Analysts have broadly estimated that Trump's tariff plans could spur domestic inflation and likely slow the Fed's pace of rate cuts.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits increased moderately last week. The crucial January nonfarm payrolls report is due on Friday.

All three major indexes closed higher in a choppy session on Wednesday, bringing the S&P 500 about one per cent away from its all-time high.

Qualcomm fell 4.9 per cent as the chip designer's executives said its lucrative patent-licensing business would not see sales growth this year after a licence agreement with Huawei Technologies expired.

Ford Motor lost 6.9 per cent after the automaker forecast up to $5.5 billion in losses in its electric-vehicle and software operations this year.

Skyworks Solutions plunged 25.6 per cent after the Apple supplier forecast declines in revenue in its mobile segment and projected current-quarter profits below estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.62-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.12-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 74 new highs and 37 new lows.