By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is rising toward the brink of another record.
The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher in afternoon trading and just 0.2% below its all-time high, which was set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 349 points, or 0.8%, as of 1:05 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher.
McCormick, the seller of cooking spices, helped lead the way and rallied 5% after delivering a better-than-expected profit report. The company also gave a forecast for profit over its full fiscal year that topped analysts’ expectations, including planned efforts to offset increased costs caused by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Over the longer term, it’s been big technology stocks that have led the market for years and since the S&P 500 fell roughly 20% below its record during the spring on worries about tariffs.
Chip company Nvidia, which has been the poster child of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, added 0.8%. It’s the most valuable company in the U.S. stock market after rushing 61% higher since the market hit a bottom on April 8, towering over the S&P 500’s gain of 23%. Another AI darling, Super Micro Computer, rose 5.3% to bring its gain since April 8 to more than 50%.
Micron Technology, which sells computer memory and data storage, swung between gains and losses after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said it’s seeing AI-driven memory demand, and the company gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. Its stock was most recently down 1.8%.
Wall Street’s worries about Trump’s tariffs have receded since the president shocked the world in April with stiff proposed levies, but they have not disappeared. The wait is still on to see how big the tariffs will ultimately be, how much they will hurt the economy and how much they will push up inflation.
The economy so far seems to be holding up OK, though slowing, and more reports arrived on Thursday bolstering that. One said that orders for washing machines and other manufactured goods that last at least three years grew by more last month than economists expected. A second said fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, a potential signal of fewer layoffs.
A third report said the U.S. economy shrank by more during the first three months of 2025 than earlier estimated. But many economists say those numbers got distorted by how many U.S. companies rushed early this year to buy foreign products ahead of tariffs, and they’re expecting a better performance in upcoming months.
Following the reports, Treasury yields swiveled up and down in the bond market, but they ultimately did not move very much.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.27% from 4.29% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, held steady at 3.74%.
Analysts said yields may be feeling downward pressure because of a report from The Wall Street Journal saying Trump could name his nominee to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell unusually early, in an attempt to undermine him. That could hurt confidence among investors about the Fed’s capability to make unpopular decisions when it comes to fighting inflation.
Powell has been repeating recently that the Federal Reserve is waiting to see how tariffs will affect the economy before deciding when to resume cutting interest rates. It has been on pause this year because lower rates can help give inflation more fuel, along with giving the economy a boost.
Trump, though, has been adamant about wanting cuts to rates sooner and has insulted Powell repeatedly. Two of his appointees to the Fed have also said recently that they would consider cutting rates as soon as the Fed’s next meeting in about a month.
“Yields fell, the dollar weakened, and break evens rose, all suggesting that a puppet of the White House in the seat of the Chair could be bad for inflation,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. But Jacobsen said decisions on interest rates would still rest with a committee of Fed officials, not just the chair, and other officials could possibly keep the new leader “in check if needed.”
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.6%, and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.9% for two of the bigger moves.
In the oil market, which has been the center of much of this week’s action, crude prices made up a bit more ground after plunging earlier this week. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 1.8% to $66.09, though it still remains below where it was when Israel’s war with Iran began.
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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.