NEW YORK — U.S. stocks drifted lower Wednesday to edge a bit further from their all-time highs.
The S&P 500 slipped 8.42 points, or 0.2%, to 5,069.76, continuing its quiet and listless run since setting a record last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 23.39 points, or 0.1%, to 38,949.02. The Nasdaq composite sank 87.56 points, or 0.5%, to 15,947.74 a day after pulling within 0.1% of its record set in 2021.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.26% from 4.31% late Tuesday after a report said the U.S. economy likely grew a touch slower at the end of 2023 than earlier estimated. The growth was nevertheless still solid, as the economy continues to defy expectations of a recession despite high interest rates meant to bring down inflation.
A 1.3% drop for Nvidia and 1.8% slump for Google’s parent company, Alphabet, were two of the heaviest weights on the market. They’re among a small group of Big Tech stocks that have been disproportionately responsible for the S&P 500’s run to records.
The dating and friend-making app company Bumble tumbled 14.8% after it reported weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected and gave a revenue forecast that fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Boston Beer, the company behind Samuel Adams, slid 15.8% after reporting a larger loss than analysts expected. It was hurt by declines for its Truly hard seltzer.
Urban Outfitters dropped 12.8% after the retailer reported weaker results than expected.
Helping to limit the market’s losses was eBay, which rose 7.9% after reporting stronger results than analysts expected. Axon Enterprise, which sells Tasers, body cameras and other equipment, also turned in a better-than-expected profit report, and its stock jumped 13.8%.
Coinbase gained 0.8% after rising more earlier in the day to continue its strong run as bitcoin’s price keeps rallying. New exchange-traded funds that make investing in bitcoin easier raised interest in the cryptocurrency, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin fund alone quickly growing to $7 billion in assets.
Bitcoin’s price briefly topped $64,000 Wednesday for the first time since 2021 after rising more than 40% so far this year.
Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, apologized during the day for issues customers encountered because the company was “dealing with a LARGE surge of traffic” as bitcoin’s price soared.
Beyond Meat surged 30.7% though it reported much weaker results for the latest quarter than expected. Its revenue was slightly better than forecast.
Agilent Technologies gained 3.4% for one of the bigger gains in the S&P 500 after beating forecasts for both profit and revenue.
Abroad, indexes fell across much of Asia and Europe.
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