Wall Street pulls near its all-time high
[December 04, 2025] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose near their record levels on Wednesday
as mixed data on the economy kept alive hopes that a cut to interest
rates is coming soon.
The S&P 500 gained 0.3% and pulled within 0.6% of its all-time high set
in late October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 408 points, or
0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.2%.
The biggest jump in the S&P 500 came from Microchip Technology, which
leaped 12.2% after saying it expects sales and profit for the final
months of the year to come in at the high end of the forecasted ranges
it earlier gave. CEO Steve Sanghi said business is doing better than
expected, and it’s reducing inventory levels.
Marvell Technology was another winner and rose 7.9% after the supplier
of semiconductor products delivered a stronger profit for the latest
quarter than analysts expected. CEO Matt Murphy credited demand for its
data center products, while also announcing a purchase of Celestial AI
to bolster its artificial-intelligence infrastructure business. The
deal’s price tag could top $3.25 billion.
Stocks broadly got a lift from easing Treasury yields in the bond
market. Yields fell after a report suggested U.S. employers outside of
the government may have cut more jobs in November than they added.
While the surprisingly weak report from ADP may be discouraging for
people looking for jobs, it also bolstered expectations that the Federal
Reserve will cut its main interest rate next week. If the Fed does, that
would be the third cut of the year in hopes of helping the slowing job
market.
Investors love lower interest rates because they boost prices for
investments and can charge up the economy.
A separate report Wednesday on activity for U.S. services business was
more encouraging. It said growth was stronger last month than expected
for businesses in the retail, finance, insurance and other industries.
The report from the Institute for Supply Management’s survey also said
that prices were increasing at their slowest rate since April. That’s
important because the main argument against cutting interest rates is
that it could worsen inflation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.06% from 4.09% late Tuesday.
Lower interest rates can boost prices for all kinds of investments, and
bitcoin climbed above $93,000 following its scary downward run in recent
weeks. It briefly plunged below $81,000 last month.
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Trader John Romolo works on the floor of the New York Stock
Exchange, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
 On Wall Street, American Eagle
Outfitters rallied 15.1% after the retailer reported a better profit
than expected. Its CEO, Jay Schottenstein, said it also saw a strong
start to the holiday shopping season with an acceleration in demand
across its brands during the Thanksgiving weekend.
Capricor Therapeutics surged 371.1% after the biotech company
reported encouraging results for its potential therapy for people
with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
On the losing end of Wall Street were relatively few companies,
including one out of every three stocks in the S&P 500 index. But
among them were some of the market’s most influential stocks, which
kept indexes in check.
Microsoft fell 2.5% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500.
Macy’s lost 1.1% after flipping between losses and gains through the
day. It reported a profit for the latest quarter that was much
better than the loss that analysts were expecting, but its stock had
already come into the day with a gain for the year so far that more
than doubled the S&P 500’s.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 20.35 points to 6,849.72. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 408.44 to 47,882.90, and the Nasdaq
composite gained 40.42 to 23,454.09.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were close to flat in Europe
following a mixed finish in Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.1% on gains for technology stocks like
Tokyo Electron. SoftBank Group Corp. leaped 6.4% following reports
that its founder, Masayoshi Son, regretted having to sell shares in
computer chipmaker Nvidia to help pay for other investments.
Chinese indexes sank following the release of data showing weaker
factory activity. Stocks fell 1.3% in Hong Kong and 0.5% in
Shanghai.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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