NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are slipping in trading that’s quiet overall Monday, though some big names are making big moves underneath the surface.
The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower in afternoon trading, coming off its sixth winning month in the last seven. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 338 points, or 0.9%, as of 12:17 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.1%.
Some familiar stars are leading the way again as Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology keeps building.
Nvidia climbed another 3.1% to bring its gain for this year to 128% after unveiling new products and services over the weekend. It’s so far been delivering blowout profits to keep at bay criticism that investors have become overzealous about the prospects for AI. Nvidia was by far the strongest force pushing the S&P 500 upward.
The jump was even bigger in another corner of Wall Street that’s well accustomed to stomach-churning swings, both up and down.
GameStop soared 23.6% in a move reminiscent of its early 2021 rocket ride that shook Wall Street and brought the term “meme stock” into the parlance of our times. GameStop jumped after a Reddit account associated with a central character in the 2021 episode said it had built a stake of 5 million shares, along with options to buy more. The post from Sunday night said the position was worth $181.4 million.
It made tidal waves online because it was the same Reddit account that showed similar screenshots of big GameStop holdings in 2021 that helped the struggling video-game retailer’s stock price rocket higher, way beyond what many critics on Wall Street called rational.
“Meme stock” has become the way to describe companies whose prices move more on the enthusiasm of smaller-pocketed investors than on any fundamental change in their business prospects. Other meme stocks also rose Monday, including a 11.4% climb for AMC Entertainment.
In a more traditional move for the market, Stericycle jumped 14.8% after Waste Management said it would buy the medical-waste company for $5.8 billion in cash and assume $1.4 billion of its net debt. Waste Management slipped 4.2%.
Autodesk rose 5.1% after it released the results of a previously announced investigation into its accounting. The company had made moves that helped it meet its goal for free cash flow in a prior fiscal year, but it found nothing that would require a restatement or adjustment of its financial statements. It also gave some encouraging financial forecasts.
JetBlue Airways rose 0.2% after raising its forecast for revenue in the current quarter, saying demand trends look healthy overall. It also said jet fuel prices are easing, and other airline stocks also rose. American Airlines added 0.1%
On the losing end of Wall Street, Hertz Global sank 8.6% after it said its chief operating officer is leaving and named a new chief financial officer.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased following the latest report to show the U.S. economy is slowing.
U.S. manufacturing shrank in May for the 18th time in 19 months, according to the Institute for Supply Management. The hope among investors is for the U.S. economy to hit a precise bull’s eye where it slows enough to keep pressure off inflation but not so much that it causes a recession. That in turn could allow the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate.
The Fed has been keeping the federal funds rate at the highest level in two decades, which intentionally slows the economy and hurts investment prices, in hopes of getting high inflation fully under control.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.41% from 4.50% late Friday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, fell to 4.82% from 4.88%.
This upcoming week has several top-tier economic reports that could send yields on sharper swings.
On Tuesday, the U.S. government will show how many job openings employers were advertising at the end of April. And on Friday, it will give the latest monthly update on overall growth for jobs and workers’ wages.
In stock markets abroad, India’s Sensex soared 3.4% after after the country’s 6-week-long national election came to an end with most exit polls projecting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will extend his decade in power with a third consecutive term.
Stock indexes were also higher across Europe and much of the rest of Asia, though Shanghai was an exception.
Stocks in Mexico slumped 4.4% following that nation's presidential election. Claudia Sheinbaum claimed victory, becoming the first woman selected for the job.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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