S&P 500 and Dow Jones Trades Around Record Highs, Nasdaq Composite Approaches Record Reached In July

Barry Adams
25 Sep, 2024
New York City

Stock market indexes on Wall Street traded around the flatline as investors reassessed the Fed's supersized rate cut last week. 

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite advanced a fraction, and the yields on Treasury notes edged slightly lower as investors debated labor market conditions and economic growth outlook. 

Benchmark indexes are set to close higher in September, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index traded near record highs reached in the previous session. 

The Nasdaq Composite is down about 4% from its record high, as the two-month rally in artificial intelligence-linked stocks and mega-cap stocks came to an abrupt halt in August. 

Investors cheered the Fed's latest move to lower its policy rate by 50 basis points, surprising many economists, as the central bank attempted to engineer a so-called soft landing and avoid a recession. 

However, despite the Fed's move to lower its interest rate range, inflation is well-anchored in the economy, and service sector inflation is well above the Fed's target rate of 2%, and housing inflation continues to keep overall inflation at elevated levels. 

 

U.S. Indexes and Treasury Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.1% to 5,736.02, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% to 18,111.79, and the Russell 2000 index fell 0.2% to 2,218.44. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged lower to 3.54%, 10-year Treasury notes inched up to 3.76%, and 30-year Treasury bonds inched higher to 4.12%.

WTI crude oil increased $0.75 to $70.81 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged up 6 cents to $2.61 a thermal unit.

Gold rose by $6.06 to $2,664.88 an ounce, and silver decreased by $0.26 to $31.89.

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, edged higher to 100.31.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

SAP SE declined 2.5% to $225.27 after the German software company's chief financial officer confirmed in an interview with CNBC that the company is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged price-fixing practices. 

KB Home declined 3.9% to $83.99 after the home builder reported weaker-than-expected results in its latest quarter. 

Progress Software surged 12% to $64.01 after the insurance company reported better-than-expected adjusted earnings and revenue in the fiscal third quarter. 

Bank of America Corp. declined 0.5% to $39.27, and Warren Buffett-controlled Berkshire Hathaway continued to reduce its holding in the bank. 

Berkshire Hathaway has now sold $9 billion of Bank of America's stock and lowered its holding to 10.5%. 

China-linked ADRs were in focus for the second day in a row after the People's Bank of China announced additional measures to support economic expansion. 

The central bank lowered its one-year loan prime rate, used for loans to financial institutions, by 30 basis points to 2.0%. 

JD.com decreased 3.5% to $32.70, Tencent Holdings dropped 1.6% to $52.60, and Alibaba Group declined 2.2% to $95.05. 

Artificial intelligence-linked stocks advanced amid growing speculation that the demand is running ahead of the supply. 

Nvidia increased 2.2% to $123.41, Qualcomm edged up 0.1% to $167.30, AMD added 0.8% to $159.56, and Micron Technology edged higher 0.9% to $94.84.