Market Roundup

U.S. stock indexes inched further into record territory Wednesday after AT&T, Boeing and others joined the parade of big companies reporting stronger profits than analysts expected.

Stocks that pay big dividends were particularly strong after the Federal Reserve took a pause in its slow-moving campaign to lift interest rates. Treasury yields sank.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq composite all rose to new record highs.

After the Fed announced that it decided to hold shortterm rates steady and that it may begin paring its $4.5trillion balance sheet “relatively soon,” drops in Treasury yields accelerated. The 10-year yield fell to 2.29% from late Tuesday’s 2.33%. The two-year yield sank to 1.35% from 1.39%.

Lower bond yields make the dividends paid by stocks more attractive, and the biggest dividend payers picked up momentum after the Fed’s announcement. Utilities stocks in the S&P 500 climbed 0.9%, for example, more than doubling their gain after the Fed’s decision.

The best-performing area of the market was the telecom sector, which jumped after AT&T reported stronger secondquarter earnings than Wall Street had forecast. AT&T shares climbed 5% to $38.03.

Boeing, the top-performing stock, jumped 9.9% to $233.45 — its best day in more than eight years — after it raised its forecast for full-year earnings and posted quarterly earnings that beat expectations.

AT&T and Boeing were only the latest companies to report healthier profits than expected for the Aprilthrough-June quarter.

“We’ve seen some pretty strong results from important companies,” said John Wilson, senior equity portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle. “They’re delivering very strong revenue and profit growth. That’s encouraging, especially given the fact that markets have had a pretty good move.”

The S&P 500 is up nearly 11% for the year on the expectation that corporate profits will continue to rise, and the stronger profits help validate the big gains. Wilson said he has noticed some particularly encouraging comments from companies about improvements they have seen in their European businesses.

Akamai Technologies had the sharpest drop in the S&P 500, sinking 14.6% to $45.49, despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. The provider of online cloud services gave a forecast for third-quarter revenue and other measures that were lower than analysts expected.

Healthcare stocks moved lower as several profit reports or forecasts disappointed investors. Hospital operator Universal Health Services dropped 8.2% to $112.88 after it cut its outlook following a weak second quarter.

Advanced Micro Devices rose 4.6% to $14.76 after the chipmaker reported strong quarterly results and raised its revenue forecast.

Benchmark U.S. crude topped $48 a barrel for the first time in seven weeks. It climbed 86 cents, or 1.8%, to $48.75 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 77 cents to $50.97 a barrel.

Natural gas fell 2 cents to $2.92 per 1,000 cubic feet. Wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents to $1.62 a gallon. Heating oil rose 3 cents to $1.60 a gallon.

Gold fell $2.70 to $1,249.40 an ounce. Silver fell 8 cents to $16.46 an ounce. Copper gained 3 cents to $2.87 a pound.

The dollar slipped to 111.35 yen from 111.89 yen. The euro rose to $1.1725 from $1.1652. The British pound rose to $1.3100 from $1.3037.