Stock market today: Wall Street extends records, led by chipmakers. Apple falls on DoJ suit

NEW YORK — (AP) — Stocks extended their push to record highs Thursday on Wall Street, led by big gains in chipmakers.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% in afternoon trading Thursday, following up on hitting a record high for a second straight day. Roughly 75% of stocks in the index gained ground.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 332 points, or 0.8% as of 1:21 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.6%. Both indexes are also coming off of record highs.

Micron surged 16.4% and led chipmakers higher after reporting blowout results for its latest quarter that easily surpassed analysts’ expectations. Chipmaker Broadcom jumped 8.8% after reporting strong earnings.

Reddit soared 64% in its public debut. The eclectic bazaar of online communities priced its IPO at $34 a share.

On the losing end, Apple slumped 3.6% after the Justice Department announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against the iPhone maker. It accuses the tech giant of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out competitors and stifles innovation.

A few retailers slipped following disappointing financial updates. Footwear retailer Designer Brands slumped 10.2% and discount retailer Five Below fell 15.5% after their financial forecasts fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants fell 6.6% after cutting its revenue forecast for the year.

Treasury yields were mostly steady a day after the Federal Reserve said it still expects to make three rate cuts this year. That helped calm some nerves on Wall Street, which has been rallying to records on expectations for interest rate cuts, but has recently been concerned about hotter-than-expected inflation updates.

Lower interest rates would ease conditions for economic growth and take pressure off of prices for investments. Wall Street expects the Fed to start cutting rates at its meeting in June.

Markets in Europe and Asia gained ground.

The Chinese government announced fresh measures to support its economy.

The Swiss National Bank said it is trimming its key interest rate, a surprise move that makes Switzerland the first major financial center to announce a cut in recent months. The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at a 16-year high and avoided signaling when it might start to cut even though inflation has dropped sharply.

Wall Street will get its next big inflation update next week when the U.S. reports personal consumption and expenditures data for February. It is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation. Overall, inflation has eased by several measures since spiking in the middle of 2022.

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AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.

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