NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are mostly quiet Thursday, with indexes hanging around their records ahead of a big jobs report due on Friday. The crypto market had much more action, and bitcoin briefly burst to a record above $103,000.
The S&P 500 was edging down by 0.1% after setting an all-time high for the 56th time this year the day before to improve one of its best years of the millennium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 98 points, or 0.2%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1% from its own record set the day before.
Bitcoin powered above $100,000 the night before, after President-elect Donald Trump chose a crypto advocate, Paul Atkins, as his nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. The cryptocurrency has climbed dramatically from less than $70,000 on Election Day, but it quickly pared back toward $101,500, according to CoinDesk.
Sharps swings for bitcoin are nothing new, and they took stocks of companies enmeshed in the crypto world on a similar ride. After rising as much as 9% in early trading, MicroStrategy, a company that’s been raising cash just to buy bitcoin, swung to a loss of 2.4%. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global slipped 0.5% after likewise erasing a big early gain.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, stocks of airlines helped lead the way following the latest bumps up to financial forecasts from carriers.
American Airlines Group soared 13.5% after saying it’s making more in revenue during the last three months of 2024 than it expected, and it will likely make a bigger profit than it had earlier forecast.
The airline also chose Citi to be its exclusive partner for credit cards that give miles in its loyalty program. That should help its cash coming in from co-branded credit card and other partners grow by about 10% annually.
Southwest Airlines climbed 3.9% after saying it’s seeing stronger demand from leisure travelers than it expected. It also raised its forecast for revenue for the holiday traveling season.
On the losing end of Wall Street was Synposys, which tumbled 11.9%. The supplier for the semiconductor industry reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but it also warned of “continued macro uncertainties” and gave a forecast for revenue in the current quarter that fell short of some analysts’ estimates.
American Eagle Outfitters fell even more, 14.6%, after the retailer said it’s preparing for “potential choppiness” outside of peak selling periods. It was reminiscent of a warning from Foot Locker earlier in the week and raised more concerns about how resilient U.S. shoppers can remain.
Solid spending by U.S. consumers has been one of the main reasons the U.S. economy has avoided a recession that earlier seemed inevitable after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates 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 report on Thursday said the number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remains at historically healthy levels.
Expectations are high 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.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.19% from 4.18% late Wednesday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mostly calm in Europe after far-right and left-wing lawmakers in France joined together to vote on a no-confidence motion prompted by budget disputes that will force Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his Cabinet to resign. The CAC 40 index in Paris added 0.4%.
In South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.9% to compound its 1.4% decline from the day before. President Yoon Suk Yeol was facing possible impeachment after he suddenly declared martial law on Tuesday night. He revoked the martial law declaration six hours later.
Crude oil prices rose modestly after eight members of the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries decided to put off increasing oil production.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contrributed.
