S&P 500 hits record high with earnings, rate outlook in spotlight By Reuters

By Johann M Cherian and Ankika Biswas

(Reuters) -Wall Street gained on Wednesday, with the benchmark scaling a new record high, as investors took stock of major corporate earnings and monitored remarks from policymakers for more clues on interest-rate cut outlook.

Ford Motor (NYSE:) jumped 4.5% to a six-month high, pushing consumer discretionary () to top the 11 S&P 500 sectors, as the automaker increased first-quarter dividend and plans to scale back investments in new capacity for loss-making electric vehicles.

General Motors (NYSE:) also added 1.7%.

Meanwhile, Snap slumped 32% to a two-month low on missing quarterly revenue estimates, as the Snapchat owner struggled to compete for advertising dollars against heavyweights.

Uber Technologies (NYSE:) forecast quarterly core profit and gross bookings above estimates. However, its shares were last down 1.4%.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:) jumped 3.3% on the cybersecurity firm’s fourth-quarter profit beat, while U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba (NYSE:) Group Holding lost 3.9% following downbeat quarterly revenue.

“So far, earnings have come in a little better than expected. It’s not outstanding, but certainly better than the negative numbers people were expecting,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.

With over half of S&P 500 companies having reported earnings, 81.2% surpassed expectations, according to LSEG data on Tuesday. Overall, S&P 500 companies’ fourth-quarter earnings are expected to have risen 8.1% from the year-ago quarter.

The benchmark S&P 500 scaled yet another all-time high, building on a bull-market run fueled by widely resilient earnings and optimism around rate cuts this year.

With Chair Jerome Powell ruling out a March rate reduction, traders are awaiting fresh clues from central bankers on the timing of the policy easing, most of whom have refrained from issuing a timeline against the backdrop of a resilient economy.

Focus is squarely on remarks from Fed officials including voting members Thomas Barkin and Susan Collins through the day, after Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari noted he expects two to three rate cuts this year for now.

At 9:51 a.m. ET, the was up 98.72 points, or 0.26%, at 38,620.08, the S&P 500 was up 21.59 points, or 0.44%, at 4,975.82, and the was up 70.17 points, or 0.45%, at 15,679.17.

Among other stocks, New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:) lost 9.6%, extending its recent slump. The lender appointed Alessandro DiNello as executive chairman, a day after ratings agency Moody’s (NYSE:) downgraded the firm’s long-term debt ratings to junk status.

Roblox jumped 11.7% after the gaming platform forecast strong annual bookings, crossing $1 billion in quarterly bookings for the first time.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:) lost 3.4% as fourth-quarter revenue dipped 4%, while VF Corp (NYSE:) shed 10.6% after missing expectations for third-quarter results, with the Vans sneaker maker also announcing CFO Matt Puckett’s exit this year.

Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:) surged 15% as the solar inverter maker expects inventory levels to normalize and demand for its products to pick up by the end of second quarter.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.17-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.69-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 41 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 50 new highs and 49 new lows.