Wall Street stocks edge higher amid results, tech hearing

NEW YORK: US stocks cautiously advanced in early trading Wednesday ahead of a congressional hearing by Big Tech executives and as more major companies unveiled results impacted by COVID-19.

About 40 minutes after the open, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3 percent at 26,448.23.

The tech-rich Nasdaq climbed 1.0 percent to 10,505.40, while the broad-based S&P 500 was rose 0.7 percent to 3,239.64.

Investors are watching a bevy of events, including a high-profile hearing with the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook, and the Federal Reserve's policy announcement.

The Fed expected to keep the benchmark lending rate at zero but may offer more explicit reassurance to markets about its intention to continue to stimulate the economy.

Among companies reporting earnings for the second quarter, the period suffering the full brunt of the coronavirus pandemic that among other things shut down travel, Boeing suffered a big loss of $2.4 billion and said more layoffs are likely.

It also announced the end of its iconic 747 jumbo jet.

"Regretfully, the prolonged impact of COVID-19 causing further reductions in our production rates and lower demand for commercial services means we'll have to further assess the size of our workforce," Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said in a message to employees.

The company's stock was down 3.4 percent.

However, General Motors climbed 0.8 percent after reporting a small-than-expected loss of $758 million.

And Eastman Kodak Company shares surged 205.7 percent, leading to a temporary halt in trading, after it announced an agreement with the US government on Tuesday for a $765 million loan to help it launch a pharmaceutical manufacturing arm.

Traders also are looking ahead to Thursday, when the government releases its first estimate of second-quarter GDP, which is expected to show a collapse of 35 percent.

Also on deck Thursday is weekly jobless claims data from the Labor Department. First time claims for unemployment payments have been dramatically elevated since the arrival of COVID-19 and began rising again last week amid a resurgence in cases and new business closures.