The benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes hit new closing highs for the second straight day on Wednesday on hopes that the Federal Reserve was getting close to a monetary easing cycle.
But the market reflected weakness in some technology stocks after the previous day's strong gains.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 151.95 points, or 0.36%, to 42,392.27, the S&P 500 lost 13.08 points, or 0.22%, to 5,868.55 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 30.00 points, or 0.16%, to 19,280.79.
Market Movers
Bullish, the crypto exchange and news provider,opened for trading Wednesdayat $90, 143% above its initial public offering price of $37. At last check, the stock was up 84% to $68. The owner of CoinDesk will raise more than $1.1 billion from its sale of 30 million shares.
Some large technology stocks including Nvidia, Alphabet and Microsoft - among the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks - closed lower as investors searched for new growth drivers.
"Valuations are elevated. I do think, though, at the end of the day, the key will be the delivery of earnings, and that's what we're seeing," said Katherine Bordlemay, co-head of client portfolio management, fundamental equities at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Apple rose 1.6% after Bloomberg News reported the company is plotting expansion into AI-powered robots, home security and smart displays.
Advanced Micro Devices stock rose 5.41% to a 52-week high. The stock, currently trading at $184.42 and commanding a market cap of $299.82 billion, has shown remarkable momentum with a 56% surge over the past six months. Mizuho has raised its price target on AMD to $205 from $183 while maintaining an Outperform rating, citing continued growth in hyperscaler capital expenditure and additional tailwinds from China.
CoreWeave, the artificial-intelligence cloud vendor, reported a wider-than-expectedsecond-quarter lossbut revenue of $1.21 billion that rose from $395.4 million a year earlier and beat expectations of $1.08 billion. “We are scaling rapidly as we look to meet the unprecedented demand for AI,” said Chairman and CEO Michael Intrator. The company said it anticipates full-year revenue of between $5.15 billion to $5.35 billion, higher than consensus of $5.05 billion consensus. Shares, however, fell 21%.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese technology stocks like Alibaba up 3.6%, Baidu up 3.7%, and JD.com up 1.2%, rose on increased expectations for a U.S. interest-rate cut next month.
Paramount Skydance rose 37%, making it the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 on Wednesday. Paramount and Skydance completed their merger last Thursday and CEO David Ellison has moved quickly striking major deals, including a seven-year agreement with TKO Group Holdings that will give Paramount exclusive media rights to all Ultimate Fighting Championship events in the U.S.
Cava Group tumbled 17% after reportingsecond-quarter same-restaurant sales growthof 2.1%, well below analysts’ estimates for growth of 6.1%, and cutting its full-year growth forecast on the sales metric to 4% to 6% from previous guidance of 6% to 8%. CEO Brett Schulman told Dow Jones Newswires that consumers were “dealing with a lot of headwinds, a lot of fog and uncertainty.”
Webtoon Entertainment jumped 81% after the online-comic platform reached a deal with Walt Disney to put brands like Marvel and Star Wars on Webtoon’s mobile format. Webtoon also reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines.
Sapiens International rose 44% to $42.56 after agreeing to be acquired by private-equity investor Advent for $2.5 billion, or $43.50 a share. The software company said the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025 or the first quarter of 2026.
Market News
Bitcoin Hits Fresh Record as Fed Easing Bets Add to Tailwinds
Bitcoin hit a record high on Thursday as increasing expectations for easier monetary policy from the Federal Reserve added to tailwinds from recently announced financial reforms.
The world's largest crypto-asset by market capitalisation climbed as much as 0.9% to $124,002.49 in early Asia trading, surpassing its previous peak hit in July. On the day, the second largest crypto-token ether hit $4,780.04, the highest level since late 2021.
Bitcoin's rally is being powered by increasing certainty of Fed rate cuts, sustained institutional buying and moves by the Trump administration to ease investment in crypto assets, said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore.
Goldman Sachs Sees Fed Cutting Rates Thrice in 2025, Twice More in 2026
Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday in a research note it expects the U.S. Federal Reserve to deliver three 25-basis-point interest rate cuts this year and two more in 2026.
This would put the terminal rate at between 3% and 3.25%, down from the current 4.25%-4.50% level.
The Goldman note followed data on Tuesday showing U.S. consumer prices increased marginally in July, rising just 0.2% last month after a gain of 0.3% in June, in line with economists' expectations.
The moderation in the Consumer Price Index reflected a 2.2% decline in gasoline prices. Food prices were unchanged after rising 0.3% for two straight months.
