US stocks tick further into record heights as UPS and UnitedHealth help lead the market

Wall Street was leaning toward modest gains early Tuesday as more companies report their latest earnings ahead of a planned meeting later this week between President Donald Trump and China’s top leader.

Futures for the S&P 500 ticked up less than 0.1% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%. Nasdaq futures were up 0.1% before the opening bell.

Shares of Amazon rose less than 1% after it announced that it was cutting about 14,000 corporate jobs. The online retail giant is ramping up spending on artificial intelligence aggressively attempting to cut costs elsewhere. CEO Andy Jassy said that he anticipated generative AI would reduce Amazon’s corporate workforce in the next few years.

UPS soared 12% after the package delivery company breezed past Wall Street's third-quarter sales and profit targets. UPS has also taken extensive measure to trim costs.

Among the recent market expectations is that the Federal Reserve will keep cutting interest rates in order to give the slowing job market a boost. The Fed’s next announcement on interest rates is due on Wednesday, and the nearly unanimous expectation among traders is that it will cut the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point at a second straight meeting.

It’s not a certainty though, because the Fed has also warned it may have to change course if inflation accelerates beyond its still-high level. That’s because low interest rates can make inflation worse.

Besides lower interest rates, another expectation that’s propped up stock prices is the forecast that U.S. companies will continue to deliver solid growth in profits. Some of Wall Street’s most influential stocks are set to report their results this week, including Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday, and Amazon and Apple on Thursday.

Trump has suggested he expects to forge another trade agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim summit in South Korea later this week. That could help alleviate trade tensions that have roiled world markets and disrupted business since Trump’s return to the White House.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.6% to finish at 50,219.18, falling back after hitting record highs since Sanae Takaichi became prime minister pledging to increase economic stimulus and boost defense spending.

On Tuesday, Trump is meeting with Takaichi, visiting a U.S. military base and then meeting with business leaders in Tokyo. Both sides are reaffirming their security alliance and Japan is promising to abide by Trump’s demands for more investments, and bigger role in its own defense and increased imports from the U.S.

At midday in Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.1% while Germany's DAX fell 0.2%. Britain's FTSE 100 gained a slight 0.1%.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.3% to 26,346.14, reversing earlier gains, and the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.2% to 3,988.22 after briefly topping 4,000, its highest level in a decade.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% to 9,012.50. South Korea's Kospi shed 0.8% to 4,010.41 after the government reported relatively strong quarterly economic growth thanks to strong consumption, investments and exports.

In energy trading early Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil shed 83 cents to $60.49 a barrel. Brent crude also fell 83 cents, to $64.08 a barrel.