They helped offset a 7.3% drop for Alphabet, which sank even though Google’s parent company reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
One of the fears hurting Wall Street is that the upward pressure on inflation could keep the Fed from cutting interest rates this year, after it began doing so in September in order to relax pressure on the economy and give the job market some help.
It reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected, thanks in part to growth for its Repatha medicine, which can lower bad cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attack.
In Japan, Honda Motor Co. stock, which jumped the previous day after Japanese media reported its ongoing talks to set up a joint holding company with Japanese rival Nissan Motor Corp. will unravel, pared down some of those gains.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 317 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2%.
