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Wall Street hangs near records as it closes its best week of the year

2024-03-22 00:00:00.0 洛杉矶时报-商业原网页

A security team member stands at one of the entrances of the New York Stock Exchange.

(Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / Associated Press)

By DAMIAN J. TROISE

March 22, 2024 1:57 PM PT

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NEW YORK —

Wall Street had a wobbly finish to its best week of the year so far.

The S&P 500 ended 0.1% lower Friday after spending the day bouncing between gains and losses. It set all-time highs in each of the last three days. The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite edged up 0.2%.

Nike dragged on the market despite reporting stronger results than expected. Treasury yields eased in the bond market.

Shares of Lululemon Athletica also dropped despite a better-than-expected profit report. The athletic apparel company gave forecasts for revenue and profit over the upcoming fiscal year that fell short of analysts’ expectations, and it sank 15.2%.

Reddit fell 3.8%, giving back some of the big gain from its dynamic debut on the U.S. stock market. The eclectic bazaar of online communities offered its stock at an initial price of $34 a share and gained 48.4% in its first day of trading on Thursday.

Helping to support the market was FedEx, which climbed 6.8% after reporting stronger profit than expected despite what it called “a difficult demand environment.”

Some of the market’s wildest action was centered on Digital World Acquisition Corp. after its decision to merge with former President Trump’s Truth Social platform. Its stock went from a 12% gain early in the day to a 12% drop before paring its loss to 5.9%.

The stock has been on a spectacular run this year as Trump has marched toward the Republican nomination for president. But it began falling shortly after Digital World shareholders approved the merger, which would see Trump Media & Technology Group shares trade under the symbol DJT and replace Digital World’s DWAC.

Critics have said Digital World’s stock price is much, much higher than the businesses’ fundamentals warrant, and Truth Social has been losing money.

In the bond market, Treasury yields sank, pulling back further for the week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.21% from 4.27% late Thursday.

Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve indicated that it still may deliver three cuts to interest rates this year, as long as inflation keeps cooling. That calmed worries on Wall Street that several hotter-than-expected inflation reports this year could force it to take rate cuts off the table.

The Federal Reserve has already raised its main interest rate to its highest level since 2001, and Wall Street is hoping for cuts to begin in June. Such reductions would relieve pressure on the economy and financial system.

Continued expectations for a coming pivot to rate cuts are likely to support stocks, along with surging investment in artificial intelligence and several other drivers, according to David Lefkowitz, head of U.S. equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.

But he sees the S&P 500 ending the year close to where it is now, after it’s already leaped roughly 10% so far in 2024.

In stock markets abroad, stocks tumbled 2.2% in Hong Kong and 0.9% in Shanghai but moved more modestly elsewhere in mixed trading across the rest of Asia and Europe.

Troise writes for the Associated Press.