US Stock Market News Today: US equity benchmarks registered cautious gains on Wednesday, with the 30-scrip Dow Jones Industrial Average index on track to close higher for the sixth session in a row, having already recorded its longest winning run since December amid optimism among investors the Fed may start reducing key interest rates from 2024 itself. The Dow Jones, whose 30 constituents include Amazon, American Express, Apple, Boeing, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Intel, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Nike and Visa, rose 172.13 points, or 0.4 per cent, to settle to 39,056.4, after gaining to as high as 39,094.7 in intraday trade.

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The session was full of seesaw moves, with buying interest in financials, utilities and technology stocks countered by selling pressure in realty, material and consumer discretionary shares. 

The Dow closed above the 39,000 mark for the first time in five weeks as investors continued to bet on supportive US monetary policy.

The S&P 500 finished the day barely in the red (down 0.03 point), at 5,187.7. 

The US technology stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which includes the likes of Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Nvidia, Cisco, Micron and Autodesk, closed 29.8 points, or 0.2 per cent, lower at 16,302.8. 

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 9.5 points, or 0.5 per cent, to settle at 2,055.1.

Among the top losers in the S&P 500 basket was Uber Tech, which closed lower by $4, or 5.7 per cent, at $66.4 per share, after the company reported a set of results that fell short of analysts' expectations.

Amben Inc, Boeing Co, JPMorgan Chase, Cisco Systems and IBM, closing between 0.9 per cent and 2.3 per cent higher, rose the most among the 21 gainers in the Dow universe. 

On the other hand, Intel, Merck, Home Depot, Walmart and P&G were the top losers, down 0.4-2.2 per cent for the day. 

From the Nasdaq pack, Meta Platforms and Netflix rose 0.9 per cent and 0.6 per cent to end at $472.6 and $609.5 apiece, respectively. 

Dow Jones top gainers

Stock Trading Symbol Price ($) Change (%)
Amgen Inc
AMGN
307.31 7.01
Boeing Co
BA
180.35 3.64
JPMorgan Chase & Co
JPM
195.65 3.9
Cisco Systems Inc
CSCO
48 0.72
International Business Machines Corp
IBM
168.23 1.52
3M Co
MMM
96.35 0.81
Goldman Sachs Group Inc
GS
446.95 3.15
American Express Co
AXP
236.24 1.58
Salesforce Inc
CRM
278.97 1.79
Honeywell International Inc
HON
198.05 1.2

Dow Jones top losers

Stock Trading Symbol Price ($) Change (%)
Intel Corp
INTC
30 -2.22
Merck & Co Inc
MRK
129.55 -0.64
Home Depot Inc
HD
338.83 -0.55
Walmart Inc
WMT
60.09 -0.53
Procter & Gamble Co
PG
165.07 -0.42
Amazon.com Inc
AMZN
188 -0.4
Nike Inc
NKE
93.59 -0.2
Caterpillar Inc
CAT
344.5 -0.14
Chevron Corp
CVX
162.54 -0.08

US stock market trend

The US share market has risen handsomely over the past few days amid optimism the Fed will introduce reductions in benchmark interest rates this year itself, with rate cut bets supported by a weaker-than-expected jobs market in the world's largest economy. 

Investors awaited a monthly US jobs report, a key rate decision by the Bank of England, and UK GDP data due this week for clues on the course of interest rates around the globe. How the US share market fared on May 7

Global markets

European shares managed gains despite a weak handover from their Asian peers. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.3 per cent to end at a record high on the back of strong earnings from Anheuser-Busch Inbev and Siemens Energy, on top of a one per cent gain the previous day. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Mumbai-market benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex finished yet another volatile session almost unchanged, as losses in financial and IT shares offset gains in energy and auto stocks. Read more on how Sensex and Nifty50 fared on May 8

How the Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq, Russell 2000 have fared so far this week

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: up 380.7 points, or 1.0 per cent
  • S&P 500: up 59.9 points, or 1.0 per cent 
  • Nasdaq: up 146.4 points, or 0.9 per cent 
  • Russell 2000 up 19.4 points, or 1.0 per cent 

With inputs from agencies

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