By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is taking a pause on Thursday as U.S. stocks and even the price of gold make only modest moves near their record highs.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high and its eighth gain in the last nine days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 126 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.
Gold also crept back from its latest record following a stellar rally this year, while Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. They’re taking a moment following big runs driven in large part by expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to support the economy.
Delta Air Lines flew 6.5% higher after reporting a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected. The Atlanta-based carrier also gave a forecast for profit over the full year that topped analysts’ estimates.
Delta President Glen Hauenstein said it’s seen a broad-based acceleration in sales trends over the last six weeks, including for business travel domestically. That helped lift stocks of other airlines. United Airlines climbed 4%, American Airlines rose 2.2% and Southwest Airlines gained 1.8%.
Such reports from companies are taking on more significance, offering windows into the strength of the economy. That’s because the U.S. government’s shutdown is delaying reports that would clearly show how the overall economy is doing. This is the second week where the U.S. government has not published its update on unemployment claims, for example, a report that usually guides Wall Street’s trading each Thursday.
Companies will also need to deliver big profit growth to justify the tremendous gains their stock prices have made since a low in April. The S&P 500 has soared roughly 35%, which has left it looking more expensive than usual, relative to corporate profits. Concerns are particularly high about the frenzy lifting stocks related to artificial-intelligence technology.
PepsiCo added 0.3% after it delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It said momentum improved for its drinks business in North America.
On the losing side of Wall Street was Tesla, which fell 1.8%. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a preliminary evaluation of Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system due to safety concerns.
Akero Therapeutics leaped 16.6% after Novo Nordisk, the Danish maker of weight-loss drug Wegovy, said it would buy the South San Francisco-based drug developer. The price tag could reach $5.2 billion if Akero’s lead product candidate wins federal regulatory approval.
MP Materials, a company that mines and processes rare earths in California, climbed 5.1% after China announced curbs on its exports of the materials, which are critical for the making of everything from consumer electronics to jet engines.
Costco Wholesale added 2.4% after the retailer said its revenue rose 8% in October from a year earlier.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. Stocks in Shanghai leaped 1.3% after trading resumed following a holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.8% for another one of the world’s bigger moves. Technology giant SoftBank Group surged 11.4% after it announced a $5.4 billion deal to acquire the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.14% from 4.13% late Wednesday.
AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.
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