Updates to close
Apple to announce $100-billion pledge, says White House official
Earnings reports continue to come in mostly better than expected
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday, led by a more than 1% gain in the Nasdaq, as Apple shares climbed after news of its plans to announce a domestic manufacturing pledge, and as the latest batch of corporate reports was mostly upbeat.
Shares of Apple AAPL.O jumped and provided the biggest boost to all three of the major indexes after a White House official said the company would announce a $100-billion domestic manufacturing pledge.
In addition, shares of McDonald's MCD.N were up after the fast-food restaurant's affordable menu drove global sales past expectations, while Arista Networks ANET.N shares jumped after the cloud networking company projected current-quarter revenue above estimates.
"Earnings continue to come in better than expected," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
He said while there is uncertainty surrounding tariffs, investors appear to be upbeat about the near term.
Results are now in from about 400 of the S&P 500 companies for the second-quarter earnings season.
About 80% of reports are beating analyst earnings expectations - above the 76% average of the last four quarters - and earnings growth for the quarter is estimated at 12.1%, up from 5.8% at the start of July, according to LSEG data.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing New Delhi's continued imports of Russian oil.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 46.06 points, or 0.72%, to end at 6,344.67 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 251.97 points, or 1.21%, to 21,168.52. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 79.42 points, or 0.18%, to 44,191.16.
Also positive for stocks were increasing bets for a September interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve. Last week's jobs report showed slowing employment growth and downward revisions for previous months.
Odds for next month's rate cut stand at 93.2%, compared with just 46.7% last week, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. Traders also bet on at least two cuts by the end of 2025.
Among the day's decliners, shares of chip company Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O and server maker Super Micro Computer SMCI.O fell sharply after the companies posted disappointing results in their data center segments.
Walt Disney DIS.N delivered a strong quarter and lifted its full-year outlook, but its shares slipped.
(Additional reporting by Nikhil Sharma and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Rod Nickel)
((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com))
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