NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are wavering Wednesday following a strong profit report from Google’s parent company, while drops for Eli Lilly and others are keeping Wall Street in check.
The S&P 500 was 0.2% lower in afternoon trading after drifting between small gains and losses, but remains near its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 20 points, or 0.1%, as of 1:40 p.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3% from its own record set the day before.
Alphabet rallied 4.1% after blowing past analysts’ forecasts for profit in the latest quarter, thanks largely to the performance of its Google business. It’s the latest of the highly influential group of stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” to top high expectations for growth. They’ll need to, because critics say their prices have climbed too quickly, even if artificial-intelligence technology is creating a new boom.
Meta Platforms and Microsoft will become Nos. 3 and 4 among the Magnificent Seven to report their results for the summer after trading ends for the day. Meta added 0.2%, while Microsoft rose 1.1%.
Computer chip companies have been some of the biggest winners of the AI rush, but Advanced Micro Devices helped drag down stocks across the industry after reporting profit for the latest quarter that only matched analysts’ expectations. It also gave a forecasted range for revenue for the end of 2024 whose midpoint was a bit below what analysts were estimating. AMD’s stock sank 9.9%.
Nvidia, a chip giant that’s rocketed to become one of Wall Street’s largest most influential stocks, fell 1.4% and was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500.
One of the few stocks to hurt the index more was Eli Lilly, which tumbled 8.9% amid concerns about two of the drug maker’s blockbuster products: diabetes treatment Mounjaro and weight loss counterpart Zepbound.
Eli Lilly reported weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected, as pharmaceutical wholesalers burned through inventories they had built up in previous quarters. Lilly cut its forecast for profit over the full year of 2024.
Also falling was Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind former Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform. It dropped 20.5%, which would be its worst loss since it began rocketing higher in late September. The stock of the money-losing company often moves more on expectations for Trump’s re-election chances than on its profit prospects.
Among the biggest movers on Wall Street, Reddit soared 38.5% after the company surprised investors and analysts and reported a profit.
