Stocks held relatively steady on Wall Street near their record levels on Tuesday.
- The S&P 500 added 8.65 points, or 0.2%, to 5,078.18 and is just off its all-time high set last week.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 96.82, or 0.2%, to 38,972.41.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 59.05, or 0.4%, to 16,035.30.
Macy's climbed 3.4% after reporting better results for the latest quarter than feared. It also announced
a sweeping reorganization as it tries to kickstart growth in revenue. It will close about 150 stores and focus on opening new Bloomingdale's and BlueMercury locations.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings steamed 19.8% higher for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after it said it's seeing healthy demand from customers, the AP reports. It also gave a forecast for earnings this upcoming year that was bigger than analysts' own. Lowe's gained 1.8% after reporting a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But it also gave a forecast for revenue this upcoming year that was weaker than analysts had penciled in, and it said a slowdown is continuing for DIY projects. Zoom Video Communications climbed after topping analysts' forecasts for profit last quarter. It rose 8% to $68.17, though it's still well below its peak above $500 during the height of the pandemic.
Those winners helped offset a 1.5% drop for Chevron, which warned that its pending takeover of Hess may be under threat. The energy companies are in discussions with Exxon Mobil and China National Offshore Oil Corp. about a joint operating agreement for a project off Guyana's shore. If they can't come to an acceptable resolution, Chevron said in a filing with US securities regulators, its merger with Hess may not close. Chevron was one of the main reasons for the Dow's slide. Hess fell 3.1%.
story continues below
Nvidia was another weight on the market, dipping 0.5% to take a bit of shine off its jaw-dropping run. Its stock is still up more than 50% so far this year after soaring nearly 240% last year amid Wall Street's frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Nvidia's stock packs an extra weight on the S&P 500 because it's the third-largest stock on Wall Street by market value. It and a handful of other Big Tech companies have been responsible for a huge, disproportionate amount of the S&P 500's rally since its bottom in October 2022. Along with tech stocks, cryptocurrency prices have also been running higher. Bitcoin rose above $57,000 and is up by more than a third so far this year already.
(More
stock market stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
