Stock market today: Wall Street drifts to a mixed close as Nasdaq notches another record

By Stan Choe, The Associated Press on May 20, 2024.

NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stock indexes drifted to a mixed finish after a quiet day of trading, and the Nasdaq composite rose to another record. The Nasdaq climbed 0.7% Monday. The S&P 500 edged up by 0.1% to finish just short of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.5% in its first trading after closing above the 40,000 level for the first time. Norwegian Cruise Line helped lead the market higher after giving financial forecasts that topped analysts’ expectations. Treasury yields were relatively steady. Nvidia, one of Wall Street’s most influential companies, will report its quarterly results later this week.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stock indexes are hanging around their record heights Monday and drifting in mixed trading following their latest winning week.

The S&P 500 was up 0.1% in late trading and on track to edge past its record set last week. The Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher and likewise on pace for a record, with a little less than an hour remaining in trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 180 points points, or 0.5%, after closing above the 40,000 level for the first time on Friday.

Norwegian Cruise Line was helping to lead the market and steamed 6.8% higher after giving some financial forecasts for the year that topped analysts’ expectations. It said demand is growing for cruises, and some of its competitors gained in its wake. Carnival rose 6.4%, and Royal Caribbean Group gained 4.1%.

All three of the big U.S. stock indexes set records last week in large part because of revived hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to cut interest rates this year as inflation hopefully cools. More reports showing big U.S. companies are earning fatter profits than expected also boosted stock prices.

This upcoming week has few top-tier economic reports, like last week’s headliner that showed inflation may finally be heading back in the right direction following a discouraging start to the year. But some potentially market-moving reports on corporate profits are on the calendar.

Atop them all is Nvidia, whose rocket ride amid a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology has been a major reason for the S&P 500’s gains over the last year. It will report its latest quarterly results on Wednesday, and expectations are high. Analysts are forecasting its revenue more than tripled to nearly $24.59 billion from a year earlier.

Its stock was up 2.8% to bring its gain for the year so far to nearly 92%.

Several retailers are also on the schedule, including Lowe’s on Tuesday, Target on Wednesday and Ross Stores on Thursday. They could offer more details on how well spending by U.S. households is holding up. Pressure has been rising on them amid still-high inflation, even if it’s not as bad as before, and cracks seem to be most visible among the lowest-income customers.

Target was down 2.2% after it said Monday it would cut prices on thousands of everyday essentials, like milk and diapers, in an acknowledgment of how customers are looking for relief from higher prices.

In the oil market, movements for crude prices were relatively calm and modest following the death of Iran’s president in a helicopter crash.

In the bond market, yields were mostly steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.43% from 4.42% late Friday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, was holding steady at 4.83% late Friday.

The Fed on Wednesday will release the minutes from its latest meeting, where it again held its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades. The hope is that the Fed can manage the delicate balancing act of grinding down the economy through high interest rates by just enough to get inflation under control but not so much that it causes a painful recession.

Traders are putting a nearly 89% probability on the Fed cutting its main interest rate at least once this year, according to data from CME Group.

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