U.S. stock indexes were mostly higher in midday trading Thursday as Wall Street sized up quarterly results from several companies including Delta Air Lines, which led a rally in airline stocks after releasing a solid outlook for the rest of this year.
The S&P 500 was up 0.2%. The benchmark index remains near the record it set last week after a better-than-expected June jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 231 points, or 0.5%, as of 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was down by less than 0.1% a day after climbing to an all-time high.
Delta surged 11.4%, bringing other airlines along with it, after beating Wall Street's revenue and profit targets. The Atlanta airline also gave a more optimistic view for the remaining summer travel season than it had just a couple months ago.
Delta and other major U.S. carriers had pulled or slashed their forecasts in the spring, citing macroeconomic uncertainty amid President Donald Trump's tariff rollouts, which have consumers feeling uneasy about spending on travel.
Delta's encouraging report boosted the entire airline sector. United jumped 14.5%, American climbed 12.8% and JetBlue gained 9.9%.
Most of the sectors in the S&P 500 were up, with banks and consumer-focused companies accounting for much of the gains. JPMorgan rose 1.5% and McDonald's was 1.9% higher.
Technology stocks were the biggest drag on the market. Autodesk fell 8.1%.