(Updates close with volume, share moves)

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Apple ( AAPL ) to announce $100-billion pledge, says White House

official

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S&P 500 earnings reports continue to be better than

expected

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Indexes: Dow up 0.2%, S&P 500 up 0.7%, Nasdaq up 1.2%

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on

Wednesday, led by a more than 1% gain in the Nasdaq, as Apple ( AAPL )

shares climbed after news of its plans to announce a domestic

manufacturing pledge, and as some companies delivered upbeat

earnings reports.

Shares of Apple ( AAPL ) jumped 5.1% and provided the biggest

boost to all three of the major indexes after a White House

official said the company would announce a $100-billion domestic

manufacturing pledge.

In addition, shares of McDonald's rose 3% after the

fast-food restaurant's affordable menu drove global sales past

expectations, while Arista Networks ( ANET ) shares jumped 17.5%

after the cloud networking company projected current-quarter

revenue above estimates.

"Earnings continue to come in better than expected," said

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.

He said while there is uncertainty surrounding tariffs,

investors appear to be upbeat about the near term.

Results are now in from about 400 of the S&P 500 companies

for the second-quarter earnings season.

About 80% of reports are beating analyst earnings

expectations - above the 76% average of the last four quarters -

and earnings growth for the quarter is estimated at 12.1%, up

from 5.8% at the start of July, according to LSEG data.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an additional

25% tariff on Indian goods, citing New Delhi's continued imports

of Russian oil.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 81.38 points,

or 0.18%, to 44,193.12, the S&P 500 gained 45.87 points,

or 0.73%, to 6,345.06 and the Nasdaq Composite gained

252.87 points, or 1.21%, to 21,169.42.

Also positive for stocks were increasing bets for a

September interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve. Last

week's jobs report showed slowing employment growth and downward

revisions for previous months.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Wednesday

the Fed may need to cut rates in the near term to account for a

slowing economy.

Market expectations for a September rate cut of at least 25

basis points from the Fed stood at 95.2%, up from 92.9% in the

prior session and well above 46.7% from a week ago, according to

CME's FedWatch Tool.

Investors also awaited Trump's choice to fill a slot on the

Fed's Board of Governors.

Bucking the day's trend, shares of chip company Advanced Micro

Devices ( AMD ) and server maker Super Micro Computer ( SMCI )

fell sharply after the companies posted disappointing results in

their data center segments. Advanced Micro was down 6.4% and

Super Micro was down 18.3%.

Walt Disney ( DIS ) delivered a strong quarter and lifted its

full-year outlook, but its shares eased 2.7%.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.12-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE. There were 166 new highs and 76 new lows on the

NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 2,195 stocks rose and 2,377 fell as declining

issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.08-to-1 ratio.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 16.85 billion shares, compared

with the 18.27-billion average for the full session over the

last 20 trading days.

(Additional reporting by Nikhil Sharma and Pranav Kashyap in

Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Rod Nickel)