3M Helps Push Dow to New All-Time High

US stocks mostly rose on Tuesday, leaving indexes at or near records.

• The S&P 500 inched up a fraction of a point Tuesday, with the rise of 0.22 points to 6,735.35 leaving it just slightly below its all-time high set earlier this month.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 218.16 points, or 0.5%, to 46,924.74, an all-time high.
• The Nasdaq composite slipped 36.88 points, or 0.2%, to 22,953.67.

The relatively quiet trading came as the floodgates opened for companies reporting how much they made during the summer, the AP reports. 3M helped drive the Dow to its record after reporting bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock rose 7.7%, the biggest jump in price among the 30 companies that make up the average.

In the more representative S&P 500 index, General Motors helped lead the way and rallied 14.9% after reporting stronger quarterly results than analysts expected, while also raising its forecasts for some full-year financial targets. CEO Mary Barra said the company is moving quickly to reduce its losses in 2026 and beyond for its electric-vehicle business, as "it is now clear" that EV adoption will be lower than planned. RTX, the aerospace and defense company, rose 7.7%, and Coca-Cola climbed 4.1% after they likewise reported profit for the latest quarter that topped Wall Street's profit expectations.

Warner Bros. Discovery leaped 11% after the company said it's now considering other options besides its previously announced split of Discovery Global off Warner Bros., which could be more profitable for shareholders. The company said it made the move after hearing from "multiple parties" interested in either the entire company or Warner Bros.

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Keeping the market in check were drops for some Big Tech stocks, which lost momentum following their own rallies. A 2.2% drop for Google's parent company, Alphabet, from its all-time high was among the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. So was Broadcom's 1.9% fall. Other big recent winners in financial markets also took a pause. The price of gold fell 5.7% from its latest record, dropping back to $4,109.10 per ounce. It's still up 56.4% for the year so far.