Wall Street edges back from records after Dow briefly tops 40,000

An entrance to the New York Stock Exchange is shown on May 8, 2024, in New York. Shares opened lower in Europe on Thursday, May 16, 2024, after most Asian benchmarks gained, tracking a Wall Street rally driven by hopes that inflation is heading back in the right direction. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks edged back from their record heights Thursday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly topped the 40,000 level for the first time.

The Dow slipped 38.62 points, or 0.1 percent, to 39,869.38. The S&P 500 index, which is much more widely followed on Wall Street, dipped 11.05, or 0.2 percent, to 5,297.10, and the Nasdaq composite fell 44.07, or 0.3 percent, to 16,698.32.

All three indexes had rallied on Wednesday to all-time highs.

Deere weighed on the market and sank 4.7 percent despite reporting stronger profit for its latest quarter than expected. It cut its forecast for upcoming profit this fiscal year, below analysts’ estimates, as farmers buy fewer tractors and other equipment.

Homebuilders also helped drag the market lower following a weaker-than-expected report on the housing industry. They gave back some of their big gains from the day before, when hopes for lower mortgage rates had sent them sharply higher. D.R. Horton sank 4.2 percent, Lennar fell 3.3 percent and PulteGroup dropped 2.8 percent.

Also sinking were GameStop and AMC Entertainment, which slid for a second straight day following their jaw-dropping starts to the week. They’ve been moving more on excitement drummed up by investors than any changes to their financial prospects.

GameStop fell 30 percent, though it’s still up nearly 59 percent for the week so far. AMC Entertainment lost 15.3 percent.

Walmart up 7%

Such drops helped offset a 7 percent jump for Walmart, which reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The retailer also said its revenue for the year could top the forecasted range it had earlier given.

Walmart’s strength could be an encouraging signal for the broader economy. Worries have been rising about whether U.S. households can keep up with still-high inflation and more expensive credit card payments, particularly households at the lower end of the income spectrum.

READ: Walmart lays off hundreds of employees and requires others to relocate

Target, which reports its quarterly results next week, climbed following Walmart’s report, along with other retailers like Dollar General and Dollar Tree. Each added at least 2 percent.

Chubb rose 4.7 percent after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed it had built an ownership stake in the insurer.

READ: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire reveals $7-B stake in Swiss insurer Chubb

Under Armour swung between losses and gains after it warned that its revenue will be likely down by “a low double-digit percentage rate” this upcoming fiscal year, citing weaker demand from wholesalers and “inconsistent execution across our business.”

The company announced a restructuring plan to cut costs and also announced a program to buy back up to $500 million of its stock. It dropped 1.3 percent.

Stronger-than-expected profit reports have been one of the main reasons U.S. stock indexes have broadly jumped through May to records following a tough April. Another has been revived hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to cut its main interest rate at least once this year. The Fed has been keeping its federal funds rate at the highest level in more than two decades.

A string of worse-than-expected reports on inflation at the start of the year had put the potential for such cuts in jeopardy, but some more encouraging data has since arrived.

Treasury yields rose

Treasury yields have largely eased in May as hopes rose that the economy could hit the hoped-for sweet spot, where it cools enough because of high interest rates to stifle inflation but not so much that it causes a bad recession.

Yields rose Thursday following some mixed data on the economy, including the report that hurt homebuilder stocks, which showed the industry broke ground on fewer projects than expected.

One report showed slightly more workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected, though the number remains low compared with history. Others said manufacturing growth in the mid-Atlantic region was weaker than hoped and import prices rose more than forecast.

“Today’s numbers were in line with the overall theme of the week — nothing dramatic, but showing signs of a steady-to-cooling economy,” said Chris Larkin, managing director for trading and investing at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

READ: Asian markets rally after US inflation data

The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.38 percent from 4.35 percent late Wednesday. The two-year yield, which moves more closely with expectations for action by the Fed, rose to 4.79 percent from 4.72 percent.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were modestly lower in much of Europe after mostly rising in Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.6 percent after reopening following a holiday, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4 percent.