Financial Markets                      01/21 09:42

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stock indexes are drifting higher Tuesday following a 
mostly encouraging batch of profit reports from big companies.

   The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher in early trading, as many markets around the 
world took tentative steps following Donald Trump'sreturn to the White House on 
Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 188 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 
a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.

   Trump has promised sweeping moves to reshape global trade and the economy, 
often at the expense of other countries, but stock indexes in Asia and Europe 
were mixed amid mostly modest moves. U.S. Treasury yields eased in the bond 
market, giving back some of the big gains made in recent months that cranked up 
the pressure on stock markets worldwide.

   In the foreign-currency market, the values of both the Mexican peso and 
Canadian dollar sank after Trump said he expects to put 25% tariffs on Canada 
and Mexico starting on Feb. 1. The peso fell 1% against the U.S. dollar, and 
the Canadian dollar slipped 0.6%.

   Trump had threatened to place even stiffer tariffs on Chinese imports during 
his campaign, but he said Monday he wanted to have more discussions with the 
leader of the world's second-largest economy.

   On Wall Street, 3M helped lead the market higher and climbed 3.6% after 
reporting profit and revenue for the end of 2024 that edged past analysts' 
expectations The company behind Scotch tape and Command strips also gave 
forecasts for financial results in 2025 that were roughly in line with 
analysts' expectations.

   Charles Schwab jumped 6% after likewise delivering a better profit report 
for the end of 2024 than analysts expected. It credited clients pouring more 
dollars in, as its total client assets rose 19% from a year earlier to $10.10 
trillion.

   They helped offset a 7.9% drop for Walgreen Boots Alliance. The U.S. Justice 
Department accused Walgreens late Friday of filling millions of prescriptions 
without a legitimate purpose, including for dangerous amounts of opioids. In 
the lawsuit, the government says the drugstore chain's pharmacists filled 
controlled substance prescriptions with clear red flags that indicated they 
were highly likely to be unlawful.

   Walgreens, one of the country's largest pharmacy chains with over 8,000 
locations, said in a statement that it stands behind its pharmacists and "will 
not stand by and allow the government to put our pharmacists in a no-win 
situation, trying to comply with "rules" that simply do not exist."

   In the bond market, Treasury yields eased to give back some of the big gains 
they'd made in recent months amid worries about higher inflation.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.57% from 4.62% late Friday. Like 
the U.S. stock market, bond trading had been closed on Monday in observance of 
Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes were rising slightly across Europe after 
finishing mixed in Asia.

   Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.9% after embattled Chinese property 
developer Country Garden got a reprieve on its deadline for working out an 
agreement with its creditors.

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   AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

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