US Stocks Wobble; Major Indexes Hover Around Record Highs
(AP) -- Stocks wobbled in morning trading on Wall Street Thursday, a day after approaching record highs set this summer.
The S&P 500 index was relatively unchanged of 10:19 a.m. Eastern. The benchmark index is sitting just below the all-time high it reached on Sept. 2. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 96 points, or 0.3%, to 35,514 and is just below its all-time high set on Aug. 16.
The Nasdaq rose 0.3% and a smaller stocks did better than the broader market. The Russell 2000 rose 0.5%.
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Technology stocks were among the biggest weights on holding down the broader market. IBM fell 7.1% after reporting disappointing third-quarter revenue.
Health care stocks slipped after two days of making broad gains. Quest Diagnostics fell 3.5%.
WeWork rose 6% in its second attempt to become a publicly traded company. The company, which provides shared workspaces, had a spectacular collapse during its first attempt to do so two years ago and is emerging after the pandemic closed millions of square feet of office space.
A mix of companies that rely on direct consumer spending made gains. Tesla rose 3.5% after reporting encouraging third-quarter profits, despite parts shortages and shipping delays.
Investors are reviewing the latest earnings reports with supply chain problems and the impact from rising inflation as a key focus. Many companies have warned that the supply chain issues and overall higher costs will hurt operations and Wall Street is trying to gauge just how much it will sting corporate profit growth and margins.
Wall Street is also concerned that rising inflation will eventually force more companies to raise prices on goods, which could result in lower consumer spending and a stalled economic recovery.
Several carmakers and automotive products companies are making gains following Tesla's latest earnings. Ford rose 2.1% and AutoZone rose 1.5%.
U.S. crude oil prices slipped 1% and weighed down energy stocks.
Bond yields moved higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.68% from 1.63% late Wednesday.
European markets were lower and Asian markets ended mixed.
Outside of earnings, investors received an encouraging update on the labor market. The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to a new low point since the pandemic erupted.