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Financial Markets 12/03 09:35
NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market is drifting near its record levels on
Wednesday following mixed reactions to profit reports from Macy's, Marvell
Technologies and other companies.
The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% in morning trading but remains within 1% of
its all-time high set in late October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up
85 points, or 0.2%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was
0.3% lower.
Marvell rose 6% after the supplier of semiconductor products delivered a
stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Matt Murphy
credited strong demand for its data center products, while also announcing a
$3.25 billion purchase of Celestial AI to bolster its artificial-intelligence
infrastructure business.
American Eagle Outfitters was another winner and rallied 15.4% after the
retailer reported a better profit than expected. Its CEO, Jay Schottenstein,
said it also saw a strong start to the holiday shopping season with an
acceleration in demand across its brands during the Thanksgiving weekend.
Outside of earnings reports, Capricor Therapeutics surged 307% after the
biotech company reported encouraging study results for its potential therapy
for people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
On the losing end of Wall Street were relatively few companies, including
only one out of every four stocks in the S&P 500 index. But among that handful
were some of the market's most influential stocks, which kept indexes in check.
Microsoft fell 2.6% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Nvidia
slipped just 0.6%, but because it's the most valuable stock on Wall Street, it
was another one of the heaviest weights dragging on the index.
Macy's swung between losses and gains after reporting a profit for the
latest quarter that was much better than the loss that analysts were expecting.
Its stock may be feeling the pressure of high expectations after it came into
the day with a rally of 34.1% for the year so far, more than double the S&P
500's rise.
CrowdStrike fell 2.3% despite topping analysts' expectations for profit. It
too came into the day with a big gain for the year so far, raising the stakes,
at 51%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after a report suggested U.S.
employers outside of the government may have cut more jobs in November than
they added.
The data from ADP was much weaker than economists expected, but it has not
had a perfect track record predicting what the more comprehensive jobs report
from the U.S. government will say each month.
Wednesday's data may be discouraging for people looking for jobs, but it
also keeps alive expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its main
interest rate next week. If the Fed does, that would be the third such cut this
year in hopes of bolstering the slowing job market.
A report later in the morning on activity for U.S. services business was
more encouraging. It said growth was stronger last month than expected for
businesses in the retail, finance, insurance and other industries.
Perhaps just as important was that the Institute for Supply Management's
survey also said prices were increasing at their slowest rate since April. That
could give the Fed more leeway to cut interest rates because fears of high
inflation are the main argument against cutting interest rates.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.06% from 4.09% late Tuesday.
Easing bond yields can boost prices for all kinds of investments, and
bitcoin climbed again to top $92,000 following its scary downward run in recent
weeks. It briefly plunged below $81,000 last month.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were close to flat in Europe following a
mixed finish in Asia.
Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.1% on gains for technology stocks like Tokyo
Electron, which jumped 4.7%. SoftBank Group Corp. leaped 6.4% following reports
that its founder, Masayoshi Son, regretted having to sell shares in computer
chipmaker Nvidia to help pay for other investments.
Chinese indexes sank following the release of data showing weaker factory
activity. Stocks fell 1.3% in Hong Kong and 0.5% in Shanghai.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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