US stocks bounced around their records Wednesday after the Federal Reserve made moves to boost the job market but warned that more help isn't guaranteed.
- The S&P 500 finished virtually flat. It edged down by 0.30 to 6,890.59 points.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 74.37 points, or 0.2%, to 47,632.00. Earlier Wednesday, it rose about 48,000 for the first time.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 130.98 points, or 0.5%, to 23,958.47.
Stocks had been on track for modest gains after the Fed said that it's
cutting its main interest rate for the second time this year, the
AP reports. But the market snapped lower after Chair Jerome Powell later warned that a cut in December is not a foregone conclusion. "That needs to be taken off the board," Powell said.
The warning hit Wall Street because many traders considered a cut in December as a near certainty, along with potentially more in 2026, and they had already driven stock prices to records in part because of it. Powell said officials had "strongly differing views about how to proceed in December." Even Wednesday's decision to cut came with less authority than expected. One member of the Fed's committee, Jeffrey Schmid, voted to keep the federal funds rate steady now instead of lowering it.
Teradyne soared 20.5% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after the company, which makes automated test equipment and advanced robotics systems, reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Greg Smith credited strength related to artificial-intelligence applications and said "AI-related test demand remains robust." Nvidia, meanwhile, climbed 3%. The poster child of the AI boom became the first company valued at $5 trillion on Wall Street, just three months after it was the first to break through the $4 trillion barrier. Apple rose 0.3%, enough to put it back in the $4 trillion club.
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Even Caterpillar, the company known for its construction and mining equipment, is feeling a boost because of AI. It rallied 11.6% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The strongest growth came from Caterpillar's business that provides equipment for big data centers. On the losing end was Fiserv, which plunged 44% for its worst day since its stock began trading in 1986. The payments and financial technology company reported weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected and slashed its profit forecast for the year. Mondelez International fell 3.9%, even though it reported stronger results than analysts expected. The company, whose brands include Oreo cookies, has been dealing with sharp increases in the cost of cocoa.
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