Wall Street Takes Another Pause From Rally

Wall Street took another pause from its rally on Thursday.

• The S&P 500 fell 18.61 points, or 0.3%, to 6,735.11, coming off its latest all-time high.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 243.36 points, or 0.5%, to 46,358.42.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 18.75 points, or 0.1%, to 23,024.63.

A sharp fall for Dell Technologies helped offset strength for Delta Air Lines, which delivered a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected. But Dell and stocks broadly are still up comfortably for the week. The price of gold also pulled back from its latest record, falling back below $4,000 per ounce.

Dell Technologies sank 5.2% for one of the market's bigger losses, but that only trimmed its surge since talking up its AI growth opportunities earlier in the week, the AP reports. It's still up 10% for the week so far. Tesla fell 0.7% after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a preliminary evaluation of its "Full Self-Driving" system due to safety concerns. Delta, which rose 4.2%, also gave a forecast for profit over the full year that topped analysts' estimates. Its president, Glen Hauenstein, highlighted a broad-based acceleration in sales trends over the last six weeks, including for business travel domestically.

PepsiCo rose 4.2% after it delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, saying momentum improved for its drinks business in North America. Akero Therapeutics leaped 16.3% 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, rose 2.4% 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 climbed 3.1% after the retailer said its revenue rose 8% in September from a year earlier.

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Such reports from companies are taking on more significance, offering windows into the strength of the economy. That's because the US government's shutdown is delaying reports that would clearly show how the overall economy is doing. This is the second week where the US government has not published its update on unemployment claims, for example, a report that usually guides Wall Street's trading each Thursday.