Wall Street moves higher, grilling season fires up Tyson Foods

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Photo / Getty Images

Wall Street moved higher, sending the Dow to yet another record high, amid better-than-expected earnings including from Tyson Foods.

In 3.18pm trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.5 per cent. In 3.03pm trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.1 per cent.

Earlier in the day, the Dow climbed to a record high of 22,121.15.

"We have strong earnings. That is helping the market," Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, told Reuters. "I have seen a lot of companies exceeding their revenue growth and we also have better-than-expected global growth, which are the main drivers for equities."

Shares of Tyson Foods climbed, up 4.9 per cent in New York as of 2.14pm, after the top US meat-processing company offered quarterly earnings and an outlook that bettered expectations amid a "strong start to the grilling season."

Total net sales grew 4.8 per cent in the third quarter, compared to the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

"We're nearing the end of a record year of earnings per share and operating income, and we're looking ahead to fiscal 2018 with great enthusiasm," Tom Hayes, chief executive officer of Tyson Foods, said in the statement.

"We anticipate delivering another record year" and "strong global demand for protein."

Tyson reported net sales of US$9.85 billion for the quarter, while it posted net income of US$447 million, both bettering analysts' expectations.

"The 3Q beat was driven by the two segments-chicken and prepared foods," JPMorgan analyst Ken Goldman told Reuters.

The Dow climbed as advances in shares of Goldman Sachs and those of Apple, recently up 1.3 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively, outweighed slides in shares of United Technologies and those of Walt Disney, recently down 3 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.

Shares of United Technologies fell amid reports the company submitted an offer to acquire aircraft component maker Rockwell Collins.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the day with a decline of 0.1 per cent from the previous close. Germany's DAX Index fell 0.3 per cent as a report showed that the nation's industrial production unexpectedly dropped in June.

Meanwhile, France's CAC 40 Index rose 0.1 per cent, while the UK's FTSE 100 Index increased 0.3 per cent.

The euro strengthened, gaining 0.2 per cent to US$1.1793.

"I'm maxing on the euro at $1.20 at the moment, and I'm happy for it to be poodling along for a little while until something new and different comes long," David Bloom, global head of currency strategy at HSBC Holdings, told Bloomberg.

"It could be tax reform in the US."