Wall Street drifted higher Wednesday as gains for most stocks outweighed drops for Alphabet and some other big-name companies following their latest profit reports. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% following mixed trading across European and Asian markets.

However, the stock market shifted into a higher gear in November after Donald Trump emerged as the victor on election night. While it's crystal clear that Wall Street loves President Trump, an inherited risk threatens to send the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite tumbling.

And the Fed isn't alone in its concerns about inflation. Today's University of Michigan consumer sentiment data showed year-ahead inflation expectations jumped to 3.3% in January from 2.8% in December – the highest since May 2024. Long-term inflation expectations also rose, to 3.2% from 3.0%.

Wall Street pointed higher early Friday as more strong earnings results trickled in along with a closely-watched report from the U.S. government showing that inflation ticked higher. Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.

Asia shares are mostly declining as worries grow about President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on key U.S. trading partners