FILE – A sign outside the New York Stock Exchange marks the intersection of Wall and Broad Streets, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is flirting with a record on Friday, as U.S. stock indexes drift following some mixed profit reports from big companies.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% in afternoon trading, a day after rallying within 0.1% of its all-time high set last month. It’s sitting at 6,121, just above its record closing level of 6,118.71, as of 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 78 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
Airbnb charged 14.1% higher after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected as customers booked more nights on its platform. It’s the latest in a lengthening list of companies that have topped Wall Street’s expectations this reporting season, which is usually the case.
Airbnb joined the majority of other U.S. stocks in rising, and they helped offset a 6.1% drop for Applied Materials. The company, whose products help make semiconductor chips, displays and other tech, also reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But it gave a forecasted range for upcoming revenue whose midpoint fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.
In the bond market, Treasury yields fell after a report said sales at U.S. retailers weakened by much more last month than economists expected. Bad weather, including bitingly cold temperatures in the South and devastating wildfires in California, may have helped keep shoppers away from stores and auto dealerships.
The hope among investors has been for such economic data to remain at a Goldilocks level, where it’s not so weak that it raises worries about a downturn but not so strong that it creates upward pressure on inflation.
This past week hit Wall Street with a couple disappointing reports that showed inflation unexpectedly accelerated last month. Besides squeezing tighter on U.S. households’ budgets, such stubbornly high inflation is likely to keep the Federal Reserve on hold for a while when it comes to providing relief to Americans through lower interest rates.
Inflation may feel more upward pressure coming from tariffs that President Donald Trump has announced recently. So far, though, the U.S. stock market has largely taken such threats in stride. The belief on Wall Street is that Trump is using tariffs merely as a tool for negotiation, and he may ultimately avoid a punishing global trade war in order to prevent more severe damage to the U.S. stock market and economy.
His most recent tariff announcement, for example, won’t take full effect for at least several weeks. That leaves time for Washington and other countries to negotiate and hopefully lessen the ultimate shock to global trade.
“Tariffs on Chinese goods have gone into effect,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “All of the other things that have been discussed — reciprocal tariffs, steel and aluminum tariffs, and tariffs on Canada and Mexico — haven’t actually gone into effect, yet. That opens the door the negotiations.”
The market’s remarkable equanimity, of course, could be dangerous if things don’t go according to Wall Street’s expectations, or if it emboldens Trump to make even forceful moves.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.48% from 4.54% late Thursday. It’s been swinging sharply since the Federal Reserve began cutting its main interest rate sharply from September intending to make borrowing cheaper, help the economy and boost prices for stocks, bonds and other investments.
The 10-year yield has been mostly climbing since then, in the opposite direction the Fed has taken short-term rates, as the U.S. economy has remained remarkably solid and as worries built about tariffs, increasing deficits and other potential policies coming from the Trump White House that could goose inflation along with economic growth.
The Fed warned at the end of 2024 it may not cut rates by as much in 2025 because of worries about inflation staying stubbornly high. Its goal is to keep inflation at 2%, and lower rates can give inflation more fuel.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 3.7% for one of the biggest moves. Technology stocks were particularly strong, including big rallies for video games firm Tencent, smartphone maker Xiaomi and e-commerce firm Alibaba.