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Honeywell ( HON ) to separate aerospace and automation businesses

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Tapestry up after raising annual sales and profit forecast

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Indexes: Dow down 0.17%, S&P 500 up 0.24%, Nasdaq up 0.21%

(Updates with afternoon trading prices)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta

Feb 6 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ticked up

on Thursday, as some upbeat earnings reports brought relief to

the markets, while investors awaited U.S. President Donald

Trump's next policy move and a key jobs report.

Drugmaker Eli Lilly rose 4% after the company

forecast annual profit largely above estimates, while

Coach-parent Tapestry jumped 12.3% on annual sales and

profit forecast raise.

Philip Morris International ( PM ) advanced 9.4% after the

cigarette maker posted better-than-expected quarterly results

and forecast 2025 profit above estimates.

Honeywell ( HON ) fell 6.3% after the industrial and

aerospace giant said it would split into three independently

listed companies and forecast downbeat sales and profit for

2025. The sharp decline dragged down the Dow.

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) rose nearly 1% ahead of its quarterly

earnings report after the bell, while other rising megacap

stocks including Nvidia ( NVDA ) also aided gains.

Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher, with consumer

staples and financials leading gains.

At 11:26 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 75.92 points, or 0.17%, to 44,797.36, the S&P 500

gained 14.66 points, or 0.24%, to 6,076.14 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 42.11 points, or 0.21%, to 19,734.44.

Markets saw a dismal start to the week when Trump announced

sweeping trade tariffs over the weekend, but suspended the

levies on goods from Mexico and Canada on Monday for a month.

Although many uncertainties remain under Trump's new

administration, Wall Street was relieved that things were not

worse, particularly with regard to counter-tariffs against the

United States from Beijing.

"We are in the calm before the next storm. (Moves) are going

to continually be around geopolitics, which is going to raise

market volatility," said Scott Helfstein, head of investment

strategy from Global X ETFs.

Helfstein said with the Fed expected to hold rates steady,

we are entering a market that will be more fundamentally driven,

and based on the real economy than sentiment.

The January nonfarm payrolls report is due on Friday, a

crucial metric in gauging the state of the labor market and the

Federal Reserve' rate path.

Traders do not expect the Fed to make a move on interest

rates in its next meeting in March, but a cut is widely

anticipated in June, according to the CME's FedWatch.

On the data front, the number of Americans filing new

applications for unemployment benefits increased moderately last

week.

Skyworks Solutions ( SWKS ) plunged 23.9% after the Apple

supplier forecast declines in revenue in its mobile segment and

projected current-quarter profits below estimates.

Qualcomm ( QCOM ) fell 4.7% as the chip designer's

executives said its lucrative patent-licensing business would

not see sales growth this year after a license agreement with

Huawei Technologies expired.

Ford Motor ( F ) lost nearly 6% after the automaker forecast

up to $5.5 billion in losses in its electric-vehicle and

software operations this year.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.36-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE, and by a 1.13-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 30 new 52-week highs and seven new lows,

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 101 new highs and 58 new

lows.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru;

Editing by Pooja Desai and Shinjini Ganguli)