HONG KONG – Wall Street notched another record high Tuesday, even as major stock indexes barely budged after a listless day of trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 9 points, or less than 0.1%, which was good enough for its second all-time high in two days. The index is on an eight-day winning streak.
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The benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite each finished 0.2% higher after drifting between small gains and losses most of the day. The benchmark S&P 500 is now within 0.8% of its record high set last month.
Slightly more stocks closed lower than those that posted gains on the New York Stock Exchange, reflecting the choppy bout of trading so far this week. Stock indexes posted a mixed finish on Monday.
The S&P 500 and Dow have been hovering around all-time highs since last week amid expectations among investors that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates.
Wall Street has also had its eye on company earnings reports for clues about the state of the economy, the health of consumers and to gauge whether stock valuations for big tech growth companies like Nvidia have become overblown relative to companies’ prospects for future growth.
“That’s the major question, and I think all eyes will be on Nvidia as they report this week,” said Bill Merz, head of capital markets research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “That’s kind of the elephant in the room, so to speak, that many investors will focus on.”
The semiconductor company, with a total market value topping $3 trillion, reports its latest results on Wednesday. It rose 1.5% on Tuesday. Wall Street’s mania around artificial intelligence has helped propel a 159% gain for the stock this year.
The market got some positive economic data to mull over Tuesday.
The Conference Board, a business research group, said that its consumer confidence index rose to 103.3 in August from 101.9 in July. The results were better than economists expected and could help bolster sentiment that consumers remain resilient, despite pressure from inflation.
Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. economic activity. That has been a strong area of the economy, along with the jobs market.
Best Buy and Dollar General will report their latest results Thursday. That could give investors more insight into where, and how much, consumers are spending.
Most of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported better-than-expected profit so far this reporting season. Several companies rose Tuesday as traders cheered their latest quarterly snapshots.
Hain Celestial Group jumped 18.6% after the company's fiscal fourth-quarter profit topped Wall Street's estimates. Trip.com Group climbed 8.6% after its second-quarter earnings beat analysts' forecasts and the company touted strong travel demand.
Traders also bid up shares in cruise line operators. Royal Caribbean rose 4.3%, Norwegian Cruise Line gained 3.6% and Carnival added 2.7%.
The parent company of the Paramount movie studio slid 7.1% after Edgar Bronfman Jr., the former head of Warner Music Group, abandoned his bid for the company, clearing the way for it to be acquired by the media company Skydance.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 8.96 points to 5,625.80. The Dow rose 9.98 points to 41,250.50, and the Nasdaq gained 29.05 points to close at 17,754.82.
Treasury yields held steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.83% from 3.82% late Monday.
Investors are looking ahead to Friday, when the government releases its latest data on inflation with the PCE, or personal consumption and expenditures report, for July. It's the preferred measure of inflation for the Federal Reserve, which has signaled that long-awaited interest rate cuts are coming.
Inflation has been falling steadily over the past two years after the central bank raised its benchmark rate to its highest level in two decades. The economy has persevered through both inflation and higher borrowing rates, bringing the Fed closer to its goal of taming inflation without pushing the economy into a recession.
Traders expect the Fed to start cutting its main interest rate at its next meeting in September, with up to a 1% reduction by the end of the year.
European markets mostly rose, and Asian markets were mixed.
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AP Business Writers By Zimo Zhong and Matt Ott contributed.