Stocks start higher on Wall Street as more earnings roll in

Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street as the market continues to recover from a sharp drop at the beginning of the week. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% early Wednesday. Banks and technology companies were among the biggest winners. Treasury yields climbed again but remain well below where they were just last week, a sign that investors remain cautious. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.28%. Several stocks are moving following second-quarter earnings reports. Netflix fell 2.6% after reporting its worst slowdown in subscriber growth in eight years, but Chipotle Mexican Grill jumped 7.9% after turning in banner results.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets advanced Wednesday after Wall Street rebounded as investors tried to figure out how increasing coronavirus cases will affect the global economy.

London and Frankfurt opened higher while Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney advanced. Hong Kong and Seoul declined.

Investor optimism has been buoyed by higher U.S. corporate profits despite a rise in cases of the virus's more contagious delta variant.

Overnight, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 1.5%, recovering much of the previous day’s loss.

“Defensive flows eased. However, gains are likely to be capped by lingering concerns over COVID-19′s delta variant,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a report. “A new wave of infections could delay the reopening of global economies.”

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London surged 1.6% to 6,989.90 while the DAX in Frankfurt rose 0.7% to 15,322.69. The CAC in Paris jumped 1.4% to 6,438.83.

On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.7%.

On Tuesday, the Dow and the Nasdaq composite both gained 1.6%.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.6% to 27,548.00 after Japan’s June exports jumped 48.5% over a year earlier, beating forecasts.

The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.5% to 3,215.91 after South Korea reported a daily high of 1,784 new coronavirus cases.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7% to 3,562.66 while the Hang Seng in Hong sank 0.1% to 27,1224.58.

Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 advanced 0.8% to 7,308.70 after Australian retail sales rose 1.3% over a year earlier in the three months ending in June.

New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets gained. Indian markets were closed for a holiday.

The U.S. market has gained ground in choppy trading despite uncertainty about the lingering impact of the virus on business activity and inflation.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has said an estimated 83% of U.S. cases are tied to the delta variant.

Investors have been encouraged by quarterly results that show many companies are increasing profits.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. oil rose 96 cents to $68.16 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, added 96 cents to $70.31 per barrel in London.

The dollar gained to 110.13 yen from Tuesday's 109.83 yen. The euro fell to $1.1777 from $1.1783.