US close: Markets finish higher amid mixed corporate news

Trading on Wall Street finished on a positive note on Tuesday, following the release of data that some analysts said showed scant pipeline price pressures building in the economy.

Investors were also cheered by Beijing's latest efforts to bolster China's flagging economic growth, although slightly lower-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenues from banking heavyweight JPMorgan Chase were acting as an offset.

Gains in the Internet space were making up for that drag.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.65% at 24,065.59, the S&P 500 rose 1.07% to 2,610.30, and the Nasdaq 100 was ahead 1.97% at 6,669.64.

China announced plans to cut taxes on a larger scale to help support its slowing economy, boost spending and provide financing for private and small businesses earlier in the day.

“The Dow Jones and S&P 500 are higher this afternoon as traders are cautiously optimistic about the state of the global economy,” said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.

“The change in Chinese tax laws shows us that Beijing are keen to assist their economy, and that overshadows the concerns about a global slowdown, at least for now.”

Meanwhile, Brexit developments were garnering some attention as the Commons ended up defeating Theresa May's Brexit plan late in the day.

On the economic front, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that final demand prices fell by 0.1% on the month in December, leaving factory gate prices up by 2.5% on the year, in line with expectations.

Various measures of core prices surprised to the downside, however.

The Federal Reserve bank of New York's manufacturing sector gauge retreated from a reading of 11.5 for December to 3.9 in January, well off consensus expectations for 11.5.

In US corporate news, JPMorgan Chase reversed earlier losses to finish up 0.71%, after fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.98 and revenue of $26.8bn fell a tad short of analysts' expectations.

That follows on from Citigroup's results on Monday, in which fourth-quarter profit beat expectations but revenue was a miss.

While JPMorgan's fixed income operations were pummeled by volatility over the latest quarter and despite the climb in loan-loss provisions, its bottom line swelled by 67% to $7.1bn.

Wells Fargo was under the cosh by 1.55% after posting a third successive drop in revenues, which fell by a greater-than-anticipated 5% over the three months to December, as the lender tried to cope with a recent string of scandals.

Elsewhere, UnitedHealth was 3.63% higher after its fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts' expectations.

Streaming media giant Netflix rallied 6.52% after it announced that it would raise its prices in the US by between 13% to 18% - its biggest price hike ever.

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $256.84 3.55%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $105.01 2.90%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $77.88 2.35%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $153.07 2.05%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $44.02 1.87%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $71.79 1.61%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $74.50 1.54%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $96.25 1.37%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $121.70 1.11%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $121.82 1.03%