Stock market today: Wall Street hangs around its records at the start of a shortened trading day
U.S. stocks are hanging around their records at the start of a shortened trading day before the Fourth of July holiday
NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks are hanging around their records Wednesday at the start of a shortened trading day before the Fourth of July holiday.
The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher, a day after setting an all-time high for the 32nd time this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 34 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually flat after setting its own record. Trading will end on Wall Street at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Tesla again was helping to boost the market and rose 2.6% a day after reporting a milder drop in sales for the spring than analysts feared. It was the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased following a flurry of economic reports suggesting some softening in the job market. The data could further open the door for the Federal Reserve to deliver the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street desires.
One report said slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected, though the number remains low compared with history. Another from ADP suggested employers outside the government slowed their hiring last month, when economists were forecasting an acceleration.
The hope on Wall Street is that the job market will soften by just the right amount: enough to keep a lid upward pressures on inflation, but not so much that it throws workers out of their jobs and triggers a recession. A much more anticipated report will arrive on Friday, when the U.S. government will give its comprehensive update about how many workers employers hired during June.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.40% from 4.44% late Tuesday. It’s been generally sinking since April on hopes that inflation is slowing enough to get the Federal Reserve to lower its main interest rate from the highest level in more than two decades.
Yields have hit some bumps recently, though, as traders see rising odds of a Republican sweep in November raising the possibility of cuts to taxes and other policies that could further increase the U.S. government’s debt.
The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed actions, dipped to 4.73% from 4.75% late Tuesday.
On Wall Street, Constellation Brands swung from an initial gain to a loss of 0.7% after the company behind Modelo beer and Robert Mondavi wines reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than financial analysts expected. It cited strength in its beer business, but its revenue for the latest quarter came up just shy of analysts’ forecasts.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.5% to recover some more of its losses on worries that a swing away from centrist government policies could lead to much higher French debt.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.5% in London ahead of an upcoming election in the United Kingdom, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3%.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.