Stock market today: Tech stocks and AI pull Wall Street to more records
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes reached more records after tech companies talked up how much artificial intelligence is boosting their results. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% Wednesday to add to what looks to be one of its best years of the millennium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7%, while the Nasdaq composite added 1.3% to its own record. Salesforce pulled the market higher after highlighting its artificial-intelligence offering for customers. Marvell Technology jumped even more after saying it’s seeing strong demand from AI. Treasury yields eased, while bitcoin climbed after President-elect Donald Trump nominated a crypto advocate to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are rising toward more records Wednesday after tech companies talked up how much of a boost they’re getting from artificial intelligence.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to add to what looks to be one of its best years of the millennium. It’s on track to set an all-time high for the 56th time this year after coming off 10 gains in the last 11 days.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 252 points, or 0.6%, with an hour remaining in trading, while the Nasdaq composite was adding 1.2% to its own record.
Salesforce helped pull the market higher after delivering stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit fell just short.
CEO Mark Benioff highlighted the company’s artificial-intelligence offering for customers, saying “the rise of autonomous AI agents is revolutionizing global labor, reshaping how industries operate and scale.” The stock of the company, which helps businesses manage their customers, rose 9.3%.
Marvell Technology jumped even more after delivering better results than expected, up 23.2%. CEO Matt Murphy said the semiconductor supplier is seeing strong demand from AI and gave a forecast for profit in the upcoming quarter that topped analysts’ expectations.
They helped offset a 9.8% drop for Foot Locker, which reported profit and revenue that fell short of analysts’ expectations.
CEO Mary Dillon said the company is taking a more cautious view, and it cut its forecasts for sales and profit this year. Dillon pointed to how keen customers are for discounts and how soft demand has been outside of Thanksgiving week and other key selling periods.
Retailers overall have offered mixed signals about how resilient U.S. shoppers can remain. Their spending has been one of the main reasons the U.S. economy has avoided a recession that earlier seemed inevitable because of high interest rates brought by the Federal Reserve to crush inflation. But shoppers are now contending with still-high prices and a slowing job market.
This week’s highlight for Wall Street will be Friday’s jobs report from the U.S. government, which will show how many people employers hired and fired last month. A narrower report released on Wednesday morning may have offered a preview of it.
The report from ADP suggested employers in the private sector increased their payrolls by less last month than economists expected. Hiring in manufacturing was the weakest since the spring, according to Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.
The report strengthened traders’ expectations that the Fed will cut its main interest rate again when it meets in two weeks.
The Fed began easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high in September, hoping to offer more support for the job market. The central bank had appeared set to continue cutting rates into next year, but the election of Donald Trump has scrambled Wall Street’s expectations somewhat.
Trump’s preference for higher tariffs and other policies could lead to higher economic growth and inflation, which could alter the Fed’s plans.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the central bank can afford to cut its benchmark rate cautiously because inflation has slowed significantly from its peak two years ago and the economy remains sturdy.
A separate report on Wednesday said health care, finance and other businesses in the U.S. services sector are continuing to grow, but not by as much as before and not by as much as economists expected.
One respondent from the construction industry told the survey from the Institute for Supply Management that the Fed’s rate cuts have not pulled down mortgage rates as much as hoped yet. Plus “the unknown effect of tariffs clouds the future.”
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.18% from 4.23% late Tuesday.
On Wall Street, Campbell’s fell 6% for one of the S&P 500’s sharper losses despite increasing its dividend and reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, and the National Football League’s Washington Commanders hired Campbell’s CEO Mark Clouse as its team president.
Campbell’s said Mick Beekhuizen, its president of meals and beverages, will become its 15th CEO following Clouse’s departure.
Gains for airline stocks helped offset that drop after JetBlue Airways said it saw stronger bookings for travel in November and December following the presidential election. It said it’s also benefiting from lower fuel prices, as well as lower costs due to improved on-time performance.
JetBlue jumped 8.3%, while Southwest Airlines climbed 2.8%.
In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.4% following a night full of drama in Seoul.
President Yoon Suk Yeol was facing possible impeachment after he suddenly declared martial law on Tuesday night, prompting troops to surround the parliament. Yoon accused pro-North Korean forces of plotting to overthrow one of the world’s most vibrant democracies. The martial law declaration was revoked about six hours later.
Samsung Electronics fell 0.9% in Seoul. The country’s financial regulator said it was prepared to deploy 10 trillion won ($7.07 billion) into a stock market stabilization fund at any time, the Yonhap news agency reported.
In the crypto market, bitcoin climbed back above $97,000 after Trump said he would nominate Paul Atkins, a cryptocurrency advocate, to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
