Wall Street holds steady as S&P 500 nears record high

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market held near its records in a quiet day of trading on Thursday, continuing its relatively calm run following weeks of sharp and scary swings.

The S&P 500 inched up by 0.1% and is just 0.5% below its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 31 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.

Dollar General helped lead the market, rallying 14% after reporting stronger-than-expected profit for the latest quarter. More customers shopped at its stores, and it also squeezed more profit out of each $1 in sales.

Hormel rose 3.8% after likewise reporting a better profit than expected, thanks in part to strength for its Planters nuts and Jennie-O turkey offerings. It also provided a forecast range for profit in the upcoming year, with the midpoint above analysts’ forecasts.

Salesforce, meanwhile, climbed 3.7% after swinging between gains and losses earlier in the morning. It delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its revenue fell just short.

CEO Marc Benioff extolled how Salesforce is “uniquely positioned for this new era” of artificial-intelligence technology, even if worries continue that all the world’s spending on AI may not end up worth it.

Besides such worries about potential overinvestment in AI, concerns about what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates have sent U.S. stocks on sharp swings since it set its all-time high in late October.

After some back-and-forth, the general expectation on Wall Street is now that the Fed will indeed cut its main interest rate next week to shore up the slowing job market. If it does, that would be the third such cut this year.

Investors love lower interest rates because they boost investment prices and can juice the economy. The downside is that they can worsen inflation, which is stubbornly remaining above the Fed’s 2% target.

But Treasury yields ticked higher Thursday following another rise for Japanese government bonds. Expectations for a coming Fed cut to rates also took a very slight hit after reports suggested the U.S. job market may be a bit better than expected.

One report said fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment last week. The number was the lowest in more than three years.

A separate report said that the number of layoffs announced last month fell by more than half from October’s surge. It still was above year-ago levels, though, according to outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

While better-than-expected data on layoffs is, of course, good news for U.S. workers, it could also indicate the job market doesn’t need as much help from lower interest rates.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.10% from 4.06% late Wednesday. While the move was relatively modest, yield increases can discourage some buyers from buying stocks and other investments in favor of bonds.

Among the stocks falling on Wall Street was Kroger, which dropped 4.6%. The grocer reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit beat forecasts. It also lowered the top end of its forecast range for an important revenue measure this year, while raising the bottom end by less.

Snowflake sank 11.4% despite topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue in the latest quarter. Analysts at UBS said the company’s stock may be feeling a letdown after excitement rose sharply following its blowout quarter just before. Growth in product revenue also decelerated a bit in the latest quarter.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 7.40 points to 6,857.12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 31.96 to 47,850.94, and the Nasdaq composite gained 51.04 to 23,505.14.

In overseas stock markets, indexes rose modestly in Europe after a mixed finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 2.3%, while South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.2%.

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AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.