Gains in banks, tech companies and most other sectors in the S&P 500 helped lift the US market after the three major indexes bounced between small gains and losses for much of Tuesday morning.

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But megacap growth stocks, which had powered over 1 per cent gains on Wall Street on Monday, were a drag. Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms and Google’s parent Alphabet fell between 0.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent. Nvidia dropped 1 per cent after a report said the latest US export curbs could force the AI chip designer to cancel billions of dollars of orders to China.

Most big US companies have reported stronger profit for the Northern Hemisphere summer than expected, and Caterpillar was the latest to join them. But the heavy machinery maker’s stock sank 6.1 per cent after analysts focused on a slowdown in orders and growing inventories at dealers.

JetBlue Airways tumbled 10.1 per cent after it reported a worse loss than expected. It said demand for travel is still strong during peak periods, and called the magnitude of air-traffic control and weather-related delays “staggering.”

VF Corp, the company behind Vans and Timberlands shoes, dropped 15 per cent after it reported weaker profit than expected, withdrew its profit and sales forecasts for this fiscal year and slashed its dividend by 70 per cent.

On the winning side of Wall Street was Pinterest, which jumped 19.2 per cent after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It cited growth in users around the world, with Europe particularly strong.

Reports on the US economy on Tuesday morning came in mixed. One said that growth in wages and benefits for US workers slowed during the summer, compared with year-earlier levels, but not by as much as economists expected.

The data “points to a disappointingly gradual moderation,” according to EY Chief Economist Gregory Daco, and wage growth remains above the Fed’s comfort level.

Another report said that confidence among US consumers weakened last month, but not by as much as economists expected.

Strong spending by US households has been one of the main reasons the economy has avoided a long-predicted recession, but it could also be adding upward pressure on inflation, which is at the centre of the Fed’s interest rate decisions.

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In Tokyo, the Bank of Japan added more upward pressure on interest rates. It said it would allow yields on 10-year bonds to rise above 1 per cent, calling it “a reference point” instead of a more rigidly set cap. Even so, analysts said investors were likely braced for something even tougher from Japan, which is home to some of the easiest interest-rate policies around the world.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 per cent, an outlier among losses across much of Asia amid worries about China’s economic strength. Stocks indexes in Europe were modestly higher.

The Australian dollar traded at 63.43 US cents as of 6:26am AEDT, down 0.5 per cent.

Gains on the Australian sharemarket on Wednesday would come after banks, real estate investment trusts and consumer companies kept the local bourse afloat in the previous session. The S&P/ASX 200 closed 7.8 points, or 0.1 per cent, higher at 6780.7 on Tuesday as all industry sectors except miners, technology and utilities traded in the green.

AP/Reuters, with staff writers

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