Stock market today: Most of Wall Street rises after the Fed cuts interest rates

NEW YORK -- Most U.S. stocks rose Thursday, as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates again to make things easier for the economy.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to add to its surge from the day before following Donald Trump’s presidential victory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged and edged down by less than a point, while the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.5%.

The Fed’s announcement that it was easing its main interest rate caused few ripples in the market because even the precise size of it was so well anticipated by investors.

The central bank began easing rates in September and indicated more cuts were likely to come, as it focuses more on keeping the job market humming after helping get inflation nearly down to its 2% target. What’s less certain in the minds of investors now is how much Trump’s victory may upset the Fed’s plans.

Trump is pushing for tariffs and other policies that economists say could drive inflation higher, along with the economy’s growth. Traders have already begun paring forecasts for how many cuts to rates the Fed will deliver next year because of that. While lower rates can boost the economy, they can also give inflation more fuel.

For now, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, nothing is changing. “In the near term, the election will have no effects” on interest-rate policy, he said.

With any president, Powell said the Fed looks at possible policy changes and simulates how they could affect the economy. Only after looking at the overall effect of all the policies do Fed officials decide how that should shape where interest rates go. And at this point, Powell said it’s still not clear what the policies will be after Trump returns to the White House.

“We don’t guess, we don’t speculate and we don’t assume,” he said.

On Wall Street, healthcare services company McKesson helped drive the market by jumping 10.6% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Lyft revved up by 22.8% after the ride-hailing app breezed past Wall Street’s sales and profit expectations, and Ralph Lauren rose 6.6% after customers in Asia and Europe helped it deliver a bigger profit than expected.

They helped make up for bank stocks, which gave back some of their stellar gains from the day before. Other “Trump trades” that had rocketed higher after the election also lost some of their juice.

JPMorgan Chase fell 4.3%, a day after banks decisively led the market on expectations that a stronger economy and lighter regulation would mean fatter profits. It and Goldman Sachs were the biggest reasons for the Dow Jones Industrial Average's slight loss.

Smaller U.S. stocks also lagged the market, with the Russell 2000 index down 0.4%. A day before, it more than doubled the S&P 500’s gain on expectations that Trump’s America-First priorities would most benefit smaller, more domestically focused companies.

The stock that’s become most synonymous with the president-elect, Trump Media & Technology Group, fell 23%.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 44.06 points to 5,973.10. The Dow edged down by 0.59 to 43,729.34, and the Nasdaq composite gained 285.99 to 19,269.46.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.33% from 4.44% late Wednesday. It gave back a chunk of its surge from the prior day, driven by expectations that Trump’s plans for higher tariffs, lower tax rates and lighter regulation could lead to bigger economic growth, U.S. government debt and inflation.

A report on Thursday showed slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits, though the number remains relatively low. A separate report suggested U.S. workers improved their productivity during the summer, which can help keep a lid on inflation, but not by quite as much as economists expected.

In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% after the Bank of England cut its own interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3% amid worries about the potential for a revival of trade tensions under a Trump administration.

“I think everybody’s going to be worried about Trump’s tariffs because that’s one of the things in his playbook. And so we’ll have to see how things develop in the early stages of his presidency this time,” said Neil Newman, head of strategy for Astris Advisory Japan.

Stocks rallied 2% in Hong Kong and 2.6% in Shanghai rallied after the Chinese government reported exports jumped in October at the fastest pace in more than two years.

Trump has promised to slap blanket 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports, raising them still more if Beijing makes a move to invade the self-governing island of Taiwan. That would add to the burdens Beijing is facing as it struggles to revive slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

But the impact may be less drastic than feared, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a report.

“We expect shipments to stay strong in the coming months –- any drag from potential Trump tariffs may not materialize until the second half of next year,” Huang said.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.