NYSE Dow Jones finished today at:

Wall Street rises to a record following a small gain for the S&P 500​

By STAN CHOE
Updated 8:21 AM GMT+11, February 19, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks crept to a record as the S&P 500 nudged higher after a quiet Tuesday of trading.

The main measure of Wall Street’s health rose 0.2% to finish just above its all-time closing high set last month. Most of the stocks within the index rose, as it danced around the milestone through the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10 points, or less than 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.

Entergy helped lead the way after rallying 6%. The electric company, which serves customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

That helped offset a 5.5% drop for Conagra Brands, which lowered its forecasts for upcoming profit and other financial measures. The food company said supply issues have hurt two of its product lines: frozen meals containing chicken and frozen vegetables. It also said shifting values of foreign currencies are hurting its profits.

Meta Platforms weighed on the market after falling 2.8% It was the first drop for the parent of Facebook and Instagram since Jan. 16, and it had leaped more than 20% over that 20-day winning streak.

U.S. stocks have climbed back to record heights thank in large part to stronger-than-expected profit reports, even after big disruptions recently seemed set to derail Wall Street’s long, upward trend that began in 2022.

Hanging over everything has been the threat of a punishing global trade war following President Donald Trump’s announcements of tariffs. But Wall Street has been taking such actions increasingly in stride, believing they are merely tools for negotiations and that they’ll ultimately prove to be less painful for markets and the economy than they may seem initially.

Then there’s DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial-intelligence startup that said it was able to match the performance of big U.S. rivals without having to use top-of-the-line chips. That raised worries about a pullback in AI investment, which has been a central reason for the market’s stellar gains in recent years.

But big U.S. companies have since said in recent weeks that they still plan to invest billions of dollars in AI, even with DeepSeek’s disruption.

Such optimism has global fund managers feeling so confident that they’re piling into stocks and holding only 3.5% of their portfolios in the safety of cash, according to a survey by Bank of America. That’s the lowest since 2010, strategist Michael Hartnett said in a BofA Global Research report.

Helping to support the fervor has been strong profit reports from Entergy and other big U.S. businesses. Companies in the S&P 500 are on track to deliver nearly 17% growth in their earnings per share for the final three months of 2024, compared with a year earlier. That would be the best growth since 2021, according to FactSet.

Still, threats continue to hang over the stock market. Last week, two reports showed inflation unexpectedly worsened across the United States last month. Such stubborn inflation may force a halt to the Federal Reserve’s cuts to interest rates, which began in September in order to take pressure off the economy and help the job market.

Traders have been paring their expectations for possible cuts to rates through 2025, with a notable number saying they foresee zero. That in turn has pushed up Treasury yields in the bond market, which typically drag downward on prices for stocks and other investments.

Treasury yields rose again Tuesday, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury rising to 4.55% from 4.48% late Friday. Like the U.S. stock market, bond trading was closed Monday in observance of the Presidents Day holiday.

With Treasury yields no longer helping stock prices, Morgan Stanley strategist Michael Wilson suggests winning stocks and industries could separate themselves even if the overall market looks restrained. He points to areas of the market seeing stronger momentum for earnings, such as financial companies.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 14.95 points to 6,129.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10.26 to 44,556.34, and the Nasdaq composite gained 14.49 to 20,041.26.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose modestly across much of Europe and Asia.

Stocks in Hong Kong jumped 1.6% for one of the world’s bigger gains after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with entrepreneurs Monday, including Alibaba founder Jack Ma, in a signal of assurance following a crackdown on the technology industry in recent years

ASX 200 expected to fall​

The Australian share market looks set to fall on Wednesday following a subdued night of trade on Wall Street.

According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 2 points lower this morning.

U.S. stocks crept to a record as the S&P 500 nudged higher after a quiet Tuesday of trading.

The main measure of Wall Street’s health rose 0.2% to finish just above its all-time closing high set last month. Most of the stocks within the index rose, as it danced around the milestone through the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10 points, or less than 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 14.95 points to 6,129.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10.26 to 44,556.34, and the Nasdaq composite gained 14.49 to 20,041.26.

By STAN CHOE
Updated 8:25 AM GMT+11, February 20, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — The S&P 500 added to its record as U.S. stock indexes drifted through a quiet Wednesday on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% after setting an all-time high the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 71 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite inched up by 0.1%.

Microsoft was the strongest force pushing the S&P 500 upward. It rose 1.3% after saying it had developed what it calls the world’s first “quantum processing unit,” which could lead to the development of much more powerful computers. While the gain was relatively modest, Microsoft’s gargantuan size gives its stock’s movements huge sway on the S&P 500 and other indexes.

A 9.7% rally for Analog Devices also helped push the market higher. The semiconductor company reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, despite what CEO Vincent Roche called a “challenging macro and geopolitical backdrop.”

Elon Musk’s Tesla rose 1.8%. It climbed after another electric-vehicle company, Nikola, plunged 39.1% following its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The electric truck maker said it will try to sell off its assets and wind down its business.

They helped offset a 21.5% tumble for Celanese, which dropped even though the chemical company reported profit for the end of 2024 that topped analysts’ expectations. CEO Scott Richardson warned that it saw “demand deterioration that gave no sign of easing” during the last three months of the year, and the company expects weakness to continue for such core markets as automotive, construction and paints.

Toll Brothers, meanwhile, fell 5.9% after the homebuilder reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Douglas Yearley Jr. said this spring selling season has seen healthy demand so far for homes at the higher end of the price spectrum, but “affordability constraints” are hurting sales at the lower end.

A separate report on Wednesday morning said homebuilders as a group broke ground on fewer U.S. houses last month than economists expected.

High mortgage rates are making it difficult for some potential homebuyers to afford a house, even though the Federal Reserve began cutting its main interest rate in September in order to make things easier for the economy.

Mortgage rates have followed the trend of longer-term Treasury yields, which have remained relatively high in part because the U.S. economy has remained remarkably solid and because inflation hasn’t eased as much as hoped. Tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump, along with other policies that could put upward pressure on inflation, have also caused some sharp swings for yields in the bond market.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased a bit Wednesday and edged down to 4.53% from 4.55% late Tuesday. It was below 3.70% as recently as September and approaching 4.80% within the past few weeks.

Both the bond and the stock markets have increasingly been taking Trump’s tariffs in stride, after earlier showing much more trepidation. The hope on Wall Street is that Trump is using such threats merely as a tool to drive negotiations, and the ultimate effects won’t be as bad as they initially appeared.

All told, the S&P 500 added 14.57 points to finish at 6,144.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.25 to 44,627.59, and the Nasdaq composite gained 14.99 to 20,056.25.

Such calm responses, though, could of course make things worse if conditions don’t go as Wall Street expects, or if it emboldens Trump to make even more forceful actions.

For its part, the Federal Reserve has already signaled it may make fewer cuts this year than earlier expected, in part because of worries that inflation will remain stubbornly above its 2% target. Cutting rates can boost the economy and juice prices for investments, but they can also give inflation more fuel.

Minutes released Wednesday for the Fed’s last policy meeting in January showed officials discussed how Trump’s proposed tariffs and mass deportations of migrants, as well as strong consumer spending, could push inflation higher this year

In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.6% after a report showed U.K. inflation accelerated to a 10-month high. That could put pressure on the Bank of England, which had been cutting interest rates to invigorate its tepid economy.

Indexes fell more than 1% in other European markets, including in France and Germany, after finishing mixed across Asia. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.7%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3%.

ASX 200 expected to tumble
The Australian share market looks set to tumble again on Thursday despite it being a decent night of trade on Wall Street.

According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 38 point or 0.4% lower this morning.

The S&P 500 added to its record as U.S. stock indexes drifted through a quiet Wednesday on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% after setting an all-time high the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 71 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite inched up by 0.1%.

All told, the S&P 500 added 14.57 points to finish at 6,144.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.25 to 44,627.59, and the Nasdaq composite gained 14.99 to 20,056.25.

A slide for Walmart pulls Wall Street from its record, and Dow drops 450​

By STAN CHOE
Updated 8:14 AM GMT+11, February 21, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — A sharp slide for Walmart on Thursday helped pull Wall Street off of its record.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% for its first drop after setting all-time highs in each of the last two days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 450 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.5%.

Walmart drove the market lower after falling 6.5%, even though the retailer reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based giant gave a forecast for upcoming profit that fell short of analysts’ expectations as shoppers across the country deal with still-high inflation and the threat of tariffs from President Donald Trump.

Walmart is still forecasting growth in revenue for this upcoming year and said it has experience in navigating the effects of tariffs, but its profit outlook helped pull stocks lower across the retail industry. Costco fell 2.6%,Target dropped 2% and Amazon lost 1.7%.

Palantir Technologies was another weight on the market. It fell 5.2% to follow its 10.1% drop from the day before, after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he wants to cut $50 billion in spending next year. The software company got 55% of its $2.9 billion in revenue last year from government customers.

They helped offset an 8.5% jump for Baxter International, which reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It credited strength for its pharmaceuticals business, as well as for its medical products and therapies.

Burger chain Shake Shack rallied 11.1% after likewise reporting a stronger profit than expected. CEO Rob Lynch said sales trends remained solid during the quarter, even though bad weather around the country and wildfires in the Los Angeles area kept some customers away.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw its stock that trades in the United States climb 8.1% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also talked up its artificial-intelligence developments.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 26.63 points to 6,117.52. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 450.94 to 44,176.65, and the Nasdaq composite sank 93.89 to 19,962.36.

In the bond market, Treasury yields edged lower after a report showed more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. It’s an indication the pace of layoffs could be worsening, but the number still remains relatively low compared with history.

A separate report said growth for manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region is still growing, but not as strongly as economists expected.

Such numbers are likely to keep the Federal Reserve on hold when it comes to interest rates. Last month, the Fed refrained from cutting its main interest rate for the first time at a policy meeting since it began doing so in September.

While lower rates can boost the economy and prices for investments, they can also give inflation more fuel. And Fed officials were discussing at their last meeting how Trump’s proposed tariffs and mass deportations of migrants, as well as strong consumer spending, could push inflation higher this year.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.50% from 4.54% late Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for upcoming Fed moves, held steadier. It remained at 4.27%, where it was late Wednesday.

Traders have been paring back their expectations for how many cuts to interest rates the Fed may deliver this year, with some predicting zero. Many are pointing the potential effects of tariffs, but much of Wall Street is also banking on their ultimate impact being smaller than they initially seemed.

“Given the high political costs of elevated inflation, we continue to believe that the Trump administration will not want to jeopardize US economic growth or risk higher inflation through broad and sustained tariffs,” said Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer, Americas, at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Trump has already given brief, 30-day reprieves for tariffs he had announced on Mexico and Canada to give time for more negotiations.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.6% for one of the world’s larger moves after China’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, in a move it said was meant to maintain financial stability. Stocks in Shanghai edged down by less than 0.1%.

ASX 200 expected to rise​

The Australian share market looks set to rise on Friday despite a poor night of trade in the United States.

According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open 16 points or 0.2% higher this morning.

A sharp slide for Walmart on Thursday helped pull Wall Street off of its record.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% for its first drop after setting all-time highs in each of the last two days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 450 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.5%

All told, the S&P 500 fell 26.63 points to 6,117.52. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 450.94 to 44,176.65, and the Nasdaq composite sank 93.89 to 19,962.36.