NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting around their records on Tuesday as Wall Street’s white-hot rally lets off the accelerator.
The S&P 500 was down 0.2% in midday trading, a day after rising tech stocks helped it set an all-time high for the 54th time this year. It’s climbed in nine of the last 10 days and is on track for one of its best years since the turn of the millennium.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 177 points, or 0.4%, as of 11:40 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite edged up by 0.1% from its own record set a day earlier.
AT&T helped lead the market with a gain of 3.9% after it raised its profit forecast for the full year. It also announced a $10 billion plan to send cash to its investors by buying back its own stock, while saying it expects to authorize another $10 billion of repurchases in 2027.
On the losing end of Wall Street was U.S. Steel, which fell 7.9%. President-elect Donald Trump reiterated on social media that he would not let Japan’s Nippon Steel take over the iconic Pennsylvania steelmaker.
Nippon Steel announced plans last December to buy the Pittsburgh-based steel producer for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden also came out against the acquisition.
Tesla slipped 1.5% after a judge in Delaware reaffirmed a previous ruling that the electric car maker must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. The judge denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report showed U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of October than a month earlier. Continued strength there would raise optimism that the economy could keep avoiding a recession that many investors had earlier thought was inevitable.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.21% from 4.20% late Monday.
Yields have seesawed since Trump’s victory on Election Day amid worries that his preferences for lower tax rates and bigger tariffs could spur higher inflation along with economic growth. But traders are still confident the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate again at its next meeting in two weeks. They’re betting on a better than two-in-three chance of that, according to data from CME Group.
Lower rates can help give the economy more juice, but they can also give inflation more fuel.
The key report this week that could guide the Fed’s next move will arrive on Friday. It’s the monthly jobs report, which will show how many workers U.S. employers hired and fired during November. It could be difficult to parse given how much storms and strikes distorted figures in October.
Based on trading in the options market, Friday’s jobs report appears to be the biggest potential market mover until the Fed announces its next decision on interest rates Dec. 18, according to strategists at Barclays Capital.
Since his victory, Trump has broadcasted his plans for tariffs, including for goods coming from China.
Trade relations between the U.S. and China took another step backward after China said it is banning exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications.
The counterpunch came swiftly after the U.S. Commerce Department expanded the list of Chinese technology companies subject to export controls to include many that make equipment used to make computer chips, chipmaking tools and software. The 140 companies newly included in the so-called “entity list” are nearly all based in China.
In financial markets abroad, the value of South Korea’s currency fell 1.3% against the U.S. dollar after its president declared martial law. Stocks of Korean companies that trade in the United States also fell, including a 1.9% drop for SK Telecom.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9% to help lead global markets. Some analysts think Japanese stocks could end up benefiting from Trump’s threats to raise tariffs on China and other countries.
Indexes rose 1% in Hong Kong and 0.4% in Shanghai amid unconfirmed reports that Chinese leaders would meet next week to discuss planning for the coming year. Investors are hoping it may bring fresh stimulus to help spur growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
In France, the CAC 40 rose 0.2% amid continued worries about politics in Paris, where the government is battling over the budget.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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