Stocks Ended Up amid Mixed Earnings

U.S. stocks ended with modest gains on Wednesday after investors digested a slew of earnings reports from some of America’s largest companies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 45.85 points, or 0.17%, to 26,833.95.  The S&P 500 added 8.53 points, or 0.28%, to 3,004.52. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 15.50 points, or 0.19%, to 8,119.79.

Oil futures marked their highest finish in about a month on Wednesday, after a U.S. government report showed an unexpected weekly decline in U.S. crude supplies — the first in six weeks. December WTI crude rose $1.49, or 2.7%, to settle at $55.97 a barrel. Brent crude for December added $1.47, or 2.5%, to $61.17 a barrel.

Microsoft (MSFT) reported its Q1 2020 earnings on Wednesday, beating analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom line. The company earned an adjusted $1.38 a share on sales of $33.06 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30. In the year-earlier period, Microsoft earned $1.14 a share on sales of $29.08 billion. Its revenue fell 2% to $36.99 billion.

Ford Motor Co.’s third-quarter net income tumbled nearly 60% as the company booked $1.5 billion in charges mainly for restructuring, and Chinese and U.S. sales fell. Ford’s net income from July through September was $425 million, or 11 cents per share.