By Noel Randewich and Pranav Kashyap
(Newsinpo.site) – Wall Street’s stock market closed with a mix of gains and losses on Thursday. Shares of Cisco Systems rose after they issued a positive outlook, whereas UnitedHealth dropped sharply due to reports of a criminal probe targeting the insurance company.
The S&P 500 has fully rebounded from a significant downturn in April sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s international trade conflict. As investors wager that Washington will manage to negotiate agreements reducing the substantial tariffs imposed, which experts fear could lead to higher costs for consumers, markets have shown resilience.
“Many believe that deals will materialize, leading them to position themselves accordingly and avoid being bearish on stocks. This behavior can be termed as ‘deal anticipation,'” explained Dennis Dick, a trader from Triple D Trading.
Cisco Systems surged nearly 5% following the networking firm’s increase of its yearly projection, fueled by the surge in artificial intelligence technology.
After The Wall Street Journal revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice was carrying out a criminal investigation into UnitedHealth Group for potential Medicare fraud, the company’s stock price dropped sharply by 11%, reaching its lowest point in half a decade. UnitedHealth stated they were unaware of any such criminal inquiry from federal prosecutors.
Walmart saw a slight decline of 0.5% following its announcement that it will begin increasing prices later this month as a result of tariffs, despite reporting better-than-expected same-store sales growth in the United States for the first quarter.
Competitor company Amazon, which is similarly affected by Trump’s tariffs, fell by 2.4% and had a negative impact on the Nasdaq.
Walmart chose not to offer a forecast for its second-quarter profits, aligning with other businesses from various industries that have adjusted or withdrawn their projections. This move indicates that corporations throughout America are preparing for potential challenges arising from uncertainties related to tariffs.
The S&P 500 rose by 0.41%, closing at 5,916.93 points.
The Nasdaq fell by 0.18%, closing at 19,112.32 points, whereas the Dow Jones IndustrialAverage climbed by 0.65% to reach 42,322.75 points.
Out of the 11 S&P 500 sector indices, eight advanced, with utilities leading the way by climbing 2.1%. This was closely followed by consumer staples which gained 2%.
The S&P 500 is still roughly 4% beneath its all-time closing peak set on February 19.
In an earlier update today, statistics indicated that the expansion of U.S. retail sales decelerated in April. Additionally, another report revealed that producer prices surprisingly declined the previous month. This came after a fairly moderate consumer price index was reported earlier in the week.
“We’re still waiting for that inflation pop. It’s not here yet, but we’re still waiting,” said John Augustine, chief investment officer of Huntington National Bank.
Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 2.9-to-one ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 15 new highs and six new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 51 new highs and 107 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively heavy, with 17.9 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 16.8 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru, and by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Pooja Desai and Richard Chang)
