Stock Market News Today: Stocks Drift Higher As S&P Sits Near New Record

Stocks rose slightly on Wednesday due to a short trading week and the absence of major catalysts driving market movements.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 index (^GSPC) touched a record high of 4,796.56, but failed to rise and closed at a new record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led gains with a 0.3% gain, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 rose more than 0.1%.

This year the average of these three countries has increased by double digits. The S&P 500 rose more than 24% and the Dow Jones rose more than 13%. The Nasdaq led the way with gains of nearly 44% this year.

Investors expect market gains to continue for another two months. On Wednesday afternoon, the S&P 500 headed for its ninth weekly gain, which would be its best gain since 2004. The leading index has risen nearly 13% since November 1.

Stocks have risen over the past two months as investors fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in March and that inflation will fall closer to the central bank's 2% target, with no signs that the US economy was ready to fully recover. . - When braking.

This week's news did little to change the situation as the share price rose.

Shares of The New York Times Company rose more than 2% ( NYT ) after the newspaper chain sued Microsoft ( MSFT ) and OpenAI for copyright infringement.

Meanwhile, Apple won an agreement to suspend the ban on sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 in the US. The court had earlier halted the sale due to a patent dispute with medical technology company Masimo (MASI). Massimo shares fell more than 4% on the news, while Apple shares were little changed on the day.

Treasury yields continued to reach levels not seen since July. The 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) fell nearly 10 basis points to 3.79% on Wednesday.

Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.

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Stocks fall, tech trade starts in last week of June: Stock Market News Today | June 26, 2023