U.S. stock indexes edge higher on earnings, vaccine optimism

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Stocks were slightly higher in late-morning trading on Wall Street Tuesday, helped by better-than-expected earnings from blue chip companies like Johnson & Johnson and General Electric. The results offset renewed worries that troubles with COVID-19 vaccine rollouts and the spread of new variants of coronavirus might delay a recovery from the pandemic.

The S&P 500 index was up less than 0.1% as of 11:00 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.3%.

More than 100 companies in the S&P 500 are scheduled to tell investors this week how they fared during the last three months of 2020. As a whole, analysts expect S&P 500 companies to say their fourth-quarter profit fell 5% from a year earlier. That's a milder drop than the 9.4% they were forecasting earlier this month, according to FactSet.

American Express fell 2.7% despite reporting stronger-than-expected earnings. The company's card holders continue to postpone travel, entertainment and dining out due to the pandemic, which has cut into its bottom line. Vaccine maker Moderna said Monday that it will study whether a booster shot would be needed to protect against variants of the coronavirus, "out of an abundance of caution."

 

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