Stock market today: Wall Street holds steady after a mixed set of earnings reports

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are drifting following a mixed set of earnings reports from Morgan Stanley, UnitedHealth Group and other big companies. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% in early trading Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 48 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. Stocks were holding steadier after shooting higher the day before on hopes that an encouraging report on inflation may convince the Federal Reserve to deliver more cuts to interest rates. Treasury yields were also more placid in the bond market following some mixed reports on retail sales, claims for unemployment benefits and manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Markets are mixed before the opening bell on a busy Thursday that will bring the latest government report on retail sales, weekly applications for unemployment benefits, and a slew of corporate earnings reports.

Futures for the S&P 500 inched up less than 0.1%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%. Nasdaq futures rose 0.2%.

Bank of America said Thursday that its quarterly profit more than doubled to $6.7 billion, adding to a string of banner financial reports from banks in the fourth quarter. It easily beat Wall Street sales and profit forecasts.

Bank of America brought in more than $100 million in revenue in 2024, driven by higher fees. Its shares were effectively unchanged in premarket trading.

UnitedHealth Group tumbled 3.7% after the health insurance giant's revenue fell short of Wall Street targets as challenges like Medicare funding cuts and a Medicaid enrollment drop dinged its top line. It was the insurer's first financial report since the brazen shooting of one of its executives outside a New York City hotel early last month.

Taiwan computer chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor reported Thursday that its profit in the last quarter rose 57%. The world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer — which has found itself in the middle of a trade and technology rift between the U.S. and China — said it results were propelled by the artificial intelligence boom. Its shares climbed 4.1% overnight.

Coming later Thursday morning is the government's report on retail sales for December. Analysts are expecting that sales slowed slightly in December, the anchor month for most retailers due to the holiday shopping season.

Consumer spending has been keeping the U.S. economy chugging along, despite still-high prices and interest rates.

The Labor Department also reports on applications for unemployment benefits from last week.

The latest U.S. inflation numbers, released Wednesday, were slightly more encouraging though few traders expect the data to convince the Fed to cut its main interest rate next month. Economists and analysts say it could open the door for cuts later in the year, maybe even in March, if more data comes in to show that upward pressure on inflation is abating.

Wall Street has been lurching down and up for weeks as traders tear up their forecasts for what the Fed will do with interest rates in 2025. A further easing would boost the U.S. economy and prices for investments, but it could also give inflation more fuel.

In Europe at midday, France's CAC 40 soared 2%, while Germany's DAX rose 0.3% and Britain's FTSE 100 jumped 0.6%.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.3% to finish at 38,572.60.

Bank of Japan data showed wholesale prices in Japan rose 3.8% in December last year compared to a year earlier, adding to pressures on the central bank to raise interest rates, possibly at a monetary policy meeting next week.

In China, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.2% to 19,522.89, while the Shanghai Composite index rose nearly 0.3% to 3,236.03.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.4% to 8,327.00. South Korea's Kospi gained 1.2% to 2,527.49.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 60 cents to $78.11 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was down 64 cents at $81.39 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar declined to 156.17 Japanese yen from 156.47 yen. The euro cost $1.0276, down from $1.0289.