Wall Street is mostly higher and airlines surge on a stronger outlook from Delta

U S stock indexes were mostly higher in midday trading Thursday as Wall Street sized up quarterly results from several companies including Delta Air Lines which led a rally in airline stocks after releasing a solid outlook for the rest of this year The S P was up The benchmark index remains near the record it set last week after a better-than-expected June jobs description The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up points or as of p m Eastern time and the Nasdaq composite was down by less than a day after climbing to an all-time high Delta surged bringing other airlines along with it after beating Wall Street s revenue and profit targets The Atlanta airline also gave a more optimistic view for the remaining summer tour season than it had just a couple months ago Delta and other major U S carriers had pulled or slashed their forecasts in the spring citing macroeconomic uncertainty amid President Donald Trump s tariff rollouts which have consumers feeling uneasy about spending on trip Delta s encouraging record boosted the entire airline sector United jumped American climbed and JetBlue gained The greater part of the sectors in the S P were up with banks and consumer-focused companies accounting for much of the gains JPMorgan rose and McDonald s was higher Equipment stocks were the biggest drag on the sphere Autodesk fell Shares of WK Kellogg vaulted after Italian candy maker Ferrero agreed to acquire the cereal company in a deal valued at roughly billion The transaction includes the manufacturing marketing and distribution of WK Kellogg Co s portfolio of breakfast cereals across the United States Canada and the Caribbean In economic news the Labor Department shared Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits a proxy for layoffs fell last week remaining in the historically healthy range they ve been in the past couple of years It s been a choppy week for the stock industry as Wall Street monitors the latest developments in President Donald Trump s renewed push to use threats of higher tariffs on goods imported into the U S in hopes of securing new bargain agreements with countries around the globe Wednesday was initially set as a deadline by Trump for countries to make deals with the U S or face heavy increases in tariffs But with just two contract deals revealed since April one with the United Kingdom and one with Vietnam the window for negotiations has been extended to Aug Shares in mining company Freeport-McMoRan rose after Trump explained a tariff on copper imports would take effect on Aug The price of copper was up to per pound Wall Street analysts predict that companies in the S P will deliver upsurge in second-quarter earnings according to FactSet That would mark the lowest rate since the fourth quarter of Conagra Brands fell Thursday after the maker of Slim Jim Swiss Miss and other food products shared earnings and revenue that fell short of Wall Street s estimates The company also lowered its earnings outlook saying it expects continued cost increases due to tariffs Helen of Troy the company behind Hydro Flask water bottles and OXO kitchen tools sank after its latest quarterly results came in below Wall Street s forecasts The company announced it would not be providing a fiscal year outlook citing uncertainty over tariff protocol and the economic system Shares in AZZ jumped after the electrical equipment maker s latest quarterly earnings topped analysts forecasts The corporate earnings season gets into high gear next week with JPMorgan Chase Wells Fargo and Citigroup among the big banks due to statement their results on Tuesday Bond yields were mostly higher The yield on the -year Treasury was at up from late Wednesday European stock indexes were mixed Thursday following an uneven finish in Asian markets Tokyo s Nikkei fell weighed down by selling of exporters shares amid the yen s appreciation which cuts profits from exports and dampened sentiment because of the lack of progress in the Japan-U S bargain talks