Stocks are seeing considerable strength in mid-morning trading on Tuesday, as traders are picking up equities at reduced prices following recent weakness. The major averages are all in positive territory, attempting to recover from recent three-month lows.
On the economic front today, the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected decrease in wholesale inventories in the month of December, although the report also showed a continued increase in wholesale sales during the month.
Wholesale inventories fell by 0.8 percent in December following an upwardly revised 1.6 percent increase in November. Economists had been expecting inventories to increase by 0.5 percent compared to the 1.5 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
At the same time, the Commerce Department also said that wholesale sales increased by 0.8 percent in December after surging up by 3.6 percent in the previous month. The increase reflected a 3.0 percent jump in sales of durable goods.
With earnings season drawing to a close, Coca-Cola Co. (KO) reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.66 per share, just short of the $0.67 per share forecast by analyst. Net revenues for the quarter rose 5 percent to $7.51 billion, topping the consensus revenue estimate of $7.21 billion.
Pulte Homes Inc. (PHM) reported a fourth quarter net loss of $0.31 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.33 per share in the year ago quarter. Consolidated revenue for the quarter rose 5 percent to $1.73 billion. Analysts expected Pulte to report a loss of $0.19 per share on revenues of $1.50 billion.
In other corporate news, fast food giant McDonald's Corp. (MCD) announced that global comparable sales for the month of January grew 2.6 percent, driven by the European and Asian markets. Total sales for January rose 9.1 percent, including a 0.1 percent drop in the U.S.
Earlier in the day, Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) announced the recall of nearly half a million new Prius and other hybrid cars due to problems related to the software program that controls the vehicles' anti-lock braking system.
The major averages have cooled their advance but remain near the highs for the session. The Dow is currently up 144.73 points or 1.5 percent at 10,053.12, the Nasdaq is up 22.66 points or 1.1 percent at 2,148.71 and the S&P 500 is up 12.81 points or 1.2 percent at 1,069.55.
Sector News
Airline stocks are some of the morning's strongest performers, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 6.3 percent. The index is being boosted by UAL Corp. (UAUA), the parent company of United Airlines, which has surged by 14 percent to its best price in fifteen months.
The advance has come after UAL reported a 2.4 percent rise in January traffic and a load factor of 78.5 percent for the month compared to 75.1 percent in the same period last year.
Steel and gold stocks are also notably higher, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index and the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index posting gains of 4.4 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively. The advance by gold stocks comes as the price of the precious metal is up $6.40 at $1072.60 an ounce.
Oil service, networking, natural gas and semiconductor stocks are also moving significantly higher, while modest weakness is visible among tobacco stocks, with the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index down by 0.3 percent.
Stocks Driven By Analyst Comments
Despite the strength in the broader markets, GameStop Corp. (GME) is under pressure after a downgrade at Credit Suisse from Outperform to Neutral. The broker also lowered its target price on the stock from $28 to $25. Shares are down by 4.5 percent and sank to their lowest intraday price in fourteen months in earlier trading.
Meanwhile, Lamar Advertising (LAMR) is moving higher after being upgraded at Wells Fargo from Market Perform to Outperform. The stock is up by 4.4 percent, bouncing off of yesterday's three-month closing low.
Monolithic Power (MPWR) is also on the rise after an upgrade by Wedbush Morgan from Underperform to Neutral. Shares are currently up by 2.6 percent, continuing their recovery from last Thursday's more than eight-month low.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stocks markets across the Asia-Pacific region closed mixed on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell by 0.2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are all seeing moderate strength. The French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.6 percent, while the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are both up by 0.7 percent.
In the bond markets, treasuries are little changed. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note is lingering near the unchanged mark, slightly higher at 3.596 percent.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.