Stocks rose on Tuesday as market participants looked to close out January with gains amid a busy week of corporate earnings reports and the start of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed over 365 points, while the S&P 500 posted its best January performance in four years and the Nasdaq notched its best January since 2001.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (SPY ): +1.46% or +58.83 points to 4,076.60
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA ): +1.09% or +368.95 points to 34,086.04
Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ ): +1.67% or +190.74 points to 11,584.55
Investors were met with a flurry of earnings reports Tuesday morning, which gave more clues on how companies are faring in a higher inflation environment.
McDonald's (MCD ) shares fell after the fast-food giant's earnings topped estimates on revenue and earnings, citing that customers are increasingly visiting restaurants despite higher menu prices. Still, CEO Chris Kempczinski said he expects "short-term inflationary pressures to continue".
General Motors (GM ) shares rose are the automaker reported earnings that topped expectations and delivered a strong earnings forecast for the year despite waning consumer spending trends. Exxon Mobil (XOM ) shares rose after the oil giant posted mixed earnings results, with revenue coming below expectations of $97.3 billion to $95.43 billion for the fourth quarter.
PulteGroup (PHM ) rose over 9% following the homebuilder's better-than-expected earnings. The company reported $3.63 in adjusted earnings per shares on $5.17 billion in revenue, with its homebuilding gross margin increasing year-over-year.
Caterpillar (CAT ) shares fell over 3% after the construction machinery and equipment marker posted a 29% earnings decline, citing higher manufacturing costs and foreign currency pressures.
UPS (NYSE UPS) shares rose over 4.6% after the shipping and transportation company posted slight better-than-expected earnings. The company also raised its dividend and issues a new $5 billion stock repurchase plan.
Pfizer (PFE ) shares rose after falling earlier in the session the pharmaceutical giant said it expects 2023 sals to fall by as much as 33% compared to its record 2022, citing decreased COVID vaccine and antiviral sales.
Lastly, Spotify (SPOT ) shares surged over 12% after the company missed on earnings but its total monthly active users topped expectations, totaling 489 million compared to the 478 million expected.
Elsewhere for stocks, PayPal (PYPL ) shares rose on Tuesday after the payments giant announced it plans to cut 2,000 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce. CEO Dan Schulman said the staff reduction is to address a "challenging macroeconomic environment," according to a release posted on the company's website.
Looking ahead, market participants will focus on the Federal Open Market Committee's latest monetary policy decision, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, where the policymakers are expected to issue a quarter percentage point rate hike. Investors will also tune in to remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell for clues on the Fed's next steps in its ongoing effort to stabilize prices.
Meanwhile, Snap (SNAP ) is going to give Wall Street a look into advertising performance amid pressures on consumer spending after closing bell on Tuesday. Meta Platforms (META ) is also set to deliver quarterly results on Wednesday, with Amazon (AMZN ), Apple (AAPL ) and Alphabet (GOOGL ) following on Thursday.
