NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting Wednesday and potentially heading toward a second quiet day following weeks of scary swings, both down and up.
The S&P 500 was edging down by 0.1% in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 97 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower.
The U.S. stock market has steadied somewhat after dropping 10% below its all-time high earlier this month, for its first "correction" since 2023. But strategists along Wall Street warn the sharp swings likely aren't over yet, with a suite of U.S. tariffs scheduled to arrive early next month. Even if those end up less painful for the global economy than feared, all the talk about tariffs has already soured confidence among U.S. consumers and companies.
So far, the economy and job market have appeared to remain solid despite the souring moods, and economists are looking for signals that the hit to confidence is translating into real pain for the economy. Another report on Wednesday morning offered little clarity.
Orders for machinery, airplanes and other long-lasting manufactured products unexpectedly grew last month, when economists were forecasting a contraction. But a subset of the data that’s seen as an indicator for investment by businesses, which excludes aircraft and defense products, went from growth to contraction.
Treasury yields in the bond market, which often move with expectations for the U.S. economy’s strength, swiveled up and down following the report. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was sitting at 4.34%, up from 4.31% late Tuesday.
On Wall Street, GameStop jumped 8.9% after the video-game retailer reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said it would begin investing part of its treasury in bitcoin.
Dollar Tree fell 2.6% after it said it's selling Family Dollar to a pair of private equity firms for $1 billion after a decade of trying to make its acquisition of the bargain chain fit.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across much of Europe and Asia. The FTSE 100 rose 0.3% in London after a report said U.K. inflation improved by a touch more than economists expected.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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