NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are drifting in mixed trading on Thursday.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, though the market's moves have been erratic this week, with stocks repeatedly swinging between gains and losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 64 points, or 0.1%, as of noon Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was edging higher by less than 0.1%.
Technology stocks were relatively strong after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported a bigger jump in profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang also said TSMC expects “continued strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies” going into the end of the year.
That’s important for the U.S. stock market because TSMC is a critical player at the center of the artificial-intelligence boom, making chips for such companies as Nvidia. TSMC’s stock that trades in Taiwan climbed 1.4%, though its stock that trades in the United States fell 1.5%.
Nvidia rose 1% and was the strongest single force pushing upward on the S&P 500 because it’s Wall Street’s most valuable stock.
AI stocks have been at the center of Wall Street’s surge to record after record this year, even though inflation is still high and the job market is slowing. AI stocks have shot so high that critics worry about another possible bubble, like the one that enveloped dot-com stocks and eventually imploded in 2000.
U.S. companies broadly are under pressure to deliver stronger profits after the S&P 500 surged 35% from a low in April. To justify those gains, which critics say made their stock prices too expensive, companies will need to show they’re making much more in profit and will continue to do so.
Salesforce climbed 4.2% and was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the Dow after the company, which helps businesses manage their customers, unveiled a plan to deliver more than 10% in compounded annual revenue growth in coming years.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services trucked 19.2% higher after the freight company breezed past Wall Street’s profit targets in the third quarter.
On the losing side of Wall Street was Travelers, which sank 3.2%, even though the insurer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of forecasts.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise dropped 10.5% after giving long-term financial targets that some analysts found underwhelming.
Crude prices swung modestly after President Donald Trump said he was having a lengthy conversation on the telephone with Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin. Russia's war in Ukraine has the United States trying to cut off purchases of Russian oil.
A barrel of U.S. crude gave up an early gain to drop and then pulled back to $57.84. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.3% to $61.74 per barrel. In stock markets abroad, indexes climbed across much of Asia and Europe.
South Korea’s Kospi soared 2.5% on hopes that a trade deal may be coming between Seoul and Washington. Samsung Electronics and automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp. were among the big gainers.
In China, where trade tensions have been rising with the United States, indexes added 0.1% in Shanghai and slipped 0.1% in Hong Kong.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.02% from 4.05% late Wednesday.
A report in the morning said manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region is unexpectedly shrinking. It’s one of the few windows into the economy that the Federal Reserve has been getting recently as it tries to figure out whether high inflation or the weak job market should be the bigger concern for the economy.
The U.S. government’s latest shutdown is delaying important updates on the economy, such as a weekly update on unemployment claims that typically helps guides trading on Wall Street each Thursday. A day earlier, an important report on inflation was also delayed.
Fed officials have hinted that the job market may be the more important factor now in their thinking, which would clear the way for more cuts to interest rates. Expectations for such cuts have been a major driver for the U.S. stock market recently, but a jump in inflation could force the Fed to stop.
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AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.