US stocks halt their slide after the Treasury Department moves to ease pressure from the bond market

NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� U.S. stocks rose Wednesday after the U.S. Treasury Department announced a move that could ease . Strong profit reports for the spring from Estee Lauder, and other U.S. companies also helped support Wall Street.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.2% for its first gain after setting last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 119 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite ticked 0.2% higher.

Financial markets have come under as Treasury yields charged higher through the summer on worries about , big and other factors. That makes for everyone, which slows the economy and undercuts prices for stocks and other investments.

But Treasury yields fell in the morning after the U.S. Treasury Department said it will at least double the size of its planned purchases of longer-term Treasurys from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. The department said it鈥檚 doing so 鈥渢o provide greater liquidity support in longer-dated nominal sectors where there is consistent strong sponsorship from market participants.鈥�

These longer-term 10- and 30-year Treasurys are less beholden to the Federal Reserve, which can raise or lower very short-term interest rates for overnight loans. President Donald Trump has lobbied for the Fed to lower interest rates to help the economy.

Longer-term yields are set instead by investors in the bond market, who decide how much interest they need to get paid by the U.S. government in exchange for lending it money. And recently, they have been demanding more in interest to make up for the growing risks of high inflation, continued government deficits and other factors.

After the Treasury department鈥檚 announcement, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.64% from 4.71% late Tuesday. It, though, remains well above its 3.97% level from before the sent oil prices and worries about inflation much higher.

The 30-year Treasury yield, which recently touched its highest level since 2007, fell more sharply to 5.18% from 5.28% late Tuesday.

The relief could be short lived, some analysts warn. The amount of bonds the U.S. Treasury is proposing to repurchase is a fraction of the overall total.

鈥淭he boost to buybacks is also happening in a world of challenged Fed credibility,鈥� according to strategists at BNP Paribas. Investors are questioning whether the Federal Reserve will raise the federal funds rate soon to match the tough talk its chairman, Kevin Warsh, has been offering on getting inflation down toward its 2% target.

鈥淲e do not believe buybacks will be enough to offset a continued loss in Fed credibility,鈥� the BNP Paribas strategists wrote in a report, calling them 鈥渘ecessary, but not sufficient.鈥�

On Wall Street, Moderna and Merck helped lead the market after they announced encouraging initial results from a study of a cancer vaccine they co-developed. The new drug showed better recurrence-free survival in melanoma patients who had a combination of it and Keytruda, a prescription immunotherapy drug made by Merck, than with Keytruda alone.

Moderna soared 177%, while Merck jumped 12.6%.

The continuing parade of U.S. companies reporting bigger profits for the spring than analysts expected, meanwhile, continues to support stocks.

Estee Lauder rallied 16.3% after CEO St茅phane de La Faverie said a key measure of its revenue growth accelerated for a fourth straight quarter. It reported growth in revenue around the world, with the strongest in mainland China.

The skin care company reported earnings per share of 39 cents, after excluding some restructuring and other one-time expenses. That鈥檚 up from just 9 cents a year earlier and was better than the 32 cents that analysts expected, according to FactSet.

Such growth is imperative because stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term. And strong growth helps allay criticism that stock prices shot too high in their runs to records.

Target rose 4.3%, Lowe鈥檚 added 2% and homebuilder Toll Brothers climbed 4% after they all reported better profits for the latest quarter than expected.

They helped offset drops for some Big Tech stocks, which restrained the overall market.

Broadcom fell 4.6% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. It and other winners of the boom have been through the summer that their stocks may have shot too high and that the AI frenzy may not be sustainable if it doesn鈥檛 produce big-enough profits.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 16.22 points to 7,707.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 119.65 to 53,463.05, and the Nasdaq composite added 41.38 to 26,331.09.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mostly lower in Asia and mixed in Europe.

Tokyo鈥檚 Nikkei 225 sank 3.2%. South Korea鈥檚 Kospi, which has been home to some of the world鈥檚 sharpest swings because of its heavy reliance on AI stocks, slumped 5.8%.

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AP Writers Michelle Chapman, Chan Ho-him, Mike Stobbe and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.