NEW YORK, July 31 — Wall Street stocks edged higher early today ahead of major economic reports and earnings releases later in the week, including from Apple and Amazon.

After a strong first half of 2023, US equities have continued to trend higher in July behind hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon relent on interest rate hikes and that the American economy can avoid recession.

This week’s calendar includes the Labor Department’s July jobs report, as well as updates on the manufacturing and services sectors.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 per cent at 35,508.48.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent at 4,593.56, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4 per cent to 14,370.18.

Among individual companies, Johnson & Johnson tumbled 3.1 per cent after a US bankruptcy judge rejected the pharma company’s effort to wall itself off from talcum powder litigation by creating a subsidiary that would be bankrupted.

J&J said it would appeal the ruling.

Ford fell 1.9 per cent as it recalled about 870,000 F-150 pickup trucks due to problems with its parking brake.

Besides Apple and Amazon, this week’s earnings calendar includes Caterpillar, Merck and Pfizer. — AFP