Stock market today: Wall Street rally continues on the back of strong corporate earnings

abcnews.go.com:

This week’s rally looked poised to continue on Wall Street as major, industry-bellwether companies are already starting to turn in earnings reports that beat expectations

This week's Wall Street rally appears ready to extend into Thursday with bellwether companies putting up impressive numbers for the second quarter despite fears of a pullback in spending by Americans.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrials rose 0.2% the S&P 500 ticked 0.3% higher before the bell.

Delta Air Lines jumped 4.6% after it reported unprecedented quarterly profit and revenue before the opening bell. The Atlanta carrier raised its expectations for a year after travelers took to the skies in huge numbers.

It was a similar story for PepsiCo, which raised its full-year forecast after second-quarter results handily topped Wall Street expectations. Shares rose more than 2% before the market opened.

Markets added to gains this week after the U.S. reported Wednesday that inflation cooled a bit more than expected, to 3% in June. That's its lowest point since early 2021, thanks in part to easing prices for gasoline, airline fares, used cars and groceries.

Data on producer prices, the level of costs for goods before they reach the consumer, is due before the market opens Thursday.

High inflation has driven the Federal Reserve to jack up interest rates at a blistering pace. Higher rates undercut inflation by slowing the entire economy and hurting investment prices, and they’ve already caused damage to the banking, manufacturing and other industries.

Traders remain nearly convinced the Fed will raise the federal funds rate at its meeting in two weeks to a range of 5.25% to 5.50%, which would be its highest level since 2001. But expectations are also