The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher on Wednesday, stretching its winning streak to six straight and closing above 39,000 points for the first time in five weeks, as investors kept betting on supportive US monetary policy.
The other Wall Street benchmarks cooled a touch as momentum stalled and US Treasury yields rose on the day of a 10-year notes auction. The S&P 500 ended unchanged after four sessions of gains, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped to a second consecutive decline.
There was not much news to move the indexes, outside of reports from individual companies.
Ameriprise chief market strategist Anthony Saglimbene said:
“We’re just waiting for the next catalyst to jump-start the direction in the market, and we’re probably going to get that next week,” Mr Saglimbene said (the Producer Price Index (PPI) is due on May 14, and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) scheduled for May 15).
He added: “I think traders are reluctant to take broader stocks or broader averages higher, until they get a fresh update on inflation.”
The S&P 500 has levelled off close to the 5,200 mark, which it last closed above on April 9. On Wednesday, it was hampered by sliding shares of Uber which posted a surprise quarterly loss and issued a downbeat forecast.
The ride-hailing platform fell 5.7%, was among the S&P 500’s biggest decliners, after it forecast second-quarter gross bookings would not meet expectations.
Tesla fell 1.7% after Reuters reported US prosecutors were examining whether the company committed securities or wire fraud by misleading investors and consumers about self-driving capabilities of its electric vehicles.
Other megacap stocks such as Nvidia, Amazon and Alphabet slipped between 0.2% and 1.1%, as the 10-year Treasury yield edged up.
Read More: Live updates: Australian share market to open lower, Commonwealth Bank