Most of Wall Street ticks higher as UnitedHealth drags down the Dow
NEW YORK AP The bulk U S stocks are ticking higher Thursday in the final day of trading for their holiday-shortened week The S P was up in early trading and a recovery for tech stocks following their sell-off from the day before helped nudge the Nasdaq composite up as of a m Eastern time The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down points or but that was mostly because of just one company UnitedHealth Group which reeled following a weaker-than-expected profit assessment The U S bond sphere also held steadier as it has for much of this week following last week s scary swerves Those exceptional moves last week had raised concerns that President Donald Trump s agreement war may be causing investors worldwide to lose faith in U S investments as the world s safest Innovation stocks rose after global heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co published a profit for the latest quarter that matched analysts expectations Perhaps more importantly it also announced it hasn t seen a drop-off in activity from its customers because of Trump s tariffs as specific other companies have suggested Still the company known as TSMC was cautious While we have not seen any changes in our customers behavior so far uncertainties and risks from the probable impact from tariff policies exist Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang stated TSMC s stock that trades in the United States rose Eli Lilly was another winner after the drugmaker broadcasted encouraging results for a once-daily pill that could help treat people with obesity and diabetes Its stock jumped They helped offset UnitedHealth s drop of The soundness care giant revealed profit and revenue for the latest quarter that fell short of analysts expectations and it also slashed its forecast for financial results this year It was surprised by how much care its Medicare Advantage customers were getting from doctors and outpatient services which was above the company s expectations Uncertainty remains high across the business activity because of Trump s contract war which he has reported he hopes will bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States and trim how much more it imports than it exports Economists worry that Trump s tariffs if fully implemented and left in place for a while could cause a global recession Trump on Thursday offered a few encouraging signals that negotiations with other countries could lead to lower tariffs which is what Wall Street is hoping for Had a very productive call with the President of Mexico the day prior Trump stated on his Truth Social architecture Likewise I met with the highest level Japanese Contract Representatives It was a very productive meeting Every Nation including China wants to meet In the modern day Italy The uncertainty about what will happen in Trump s on-again-off-again rollout of tariffs though could by itself damage the business sector Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell helped send stocks lower on Wednesday when he revealed again that Trump s tariffs appear to be much larger than the central bank was expecting which could in turn slow the commercial sector and raise inflation more than it had earlier thought That could put the Fed into a box It could cut interest rates to help the economic system but that would also push inflation higher It has no good tool to fix both at the same time Powell announced on Wednesday again that the Fed would wait to see how conditions play out more before moving on interest rates Trump criticized that stance Thursday saying the Fed is invariably TOO LATE AND WRONG He also mentioned Powell s termination cannot come fast enough That could spook Wall Street An independent Fed able to act without influence from the White House is one of the reasons the United States has long enjoyed its status as a safe place to invest In the bond arena the yield on the -year Treasury edged down to from late Wednesday Reports earlier in the morning came in mixed on the U S business sector One commented fewer U S workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected in the latest signal that the job area remains relatively stable But another statement noted manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly flipped to contraction from upsurge In stock markets abroad indexes slipped across much of Europe The European Central Bank cut its main interest rate which is something that often pushes stock prices higher But investors worldwide had already been expecting the move for a while In Asia indexes were stronger Stocks rose in Hong Kong and in Japan Trump joined Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in talks Wednesday with a Japanese delegation in Washington AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed Source
