Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday as investors assessed mixed PPI data and solid second-quarter earnings reports. The Nasdaq Composite, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended in positive territory.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.3%, or 150.91 points, to close at 52,659.18. Seventeen components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory, and 13 ended in negative territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.6% or 162.22 points, to close at 26,269.23.
The S&P 500 gained 0.4% to end at 7,572.42. Out of the 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index, five ended in positive territory, while five were in negative territory, and one was unchanged. The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC), the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY), and the Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) rose 1.3%, 1.4% and 0.7%, respectively, while the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) fell 1%.
The fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), decreased by 5% to 15.67. A total of 16.27 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 21.40 billion. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.5-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, advancers outpaced decliners by a 1.26-to-1 ratio.
Strong Q2 Earnings Results
Morgan Stanley’s MS second-quarter 2026 earnings of $3.46 per share outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.89 per share. Quarterly net revenues were $21.35 billion, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.90%.
BlackRock, Inc.’s BLK second-quarter 2026 earnings of $13.91 per share handily surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $12.67. Quarterly net revenues were $7.08 billion, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.75%.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC reported second-quarter 2026 earnings per share of $4.85, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.51 per share. Quarterly net revenues were $6.9 billion, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.13%.
Consequently, stock prices of Morgan Stanley, BlackRock and The PNC Financial Services Group rose 0.4%, 6.6% and 0.9%, respectively. BlackRock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Economic Data
The Department of Labor reported that the producer price index (PPI) fell 0.3% in June, compared with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a 0.2% decline. The metric for May was 0.6%. The core PPI (excluding volatile food and energy items) rose 0.2% in June, but came in lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 0.3%. The metric for May was 0.7%.
