NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are holding steadier a day after leaping back within a few good days’ worth of gains from its all-time high. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% in early trading Wednesday. The index has been charging higher as markets hope that the worst of the turmoil from President Donald Trump’s trade war may have passed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.2%. Abercrombie & Fitch soared after its profit and revenue beat analysts’ expectations. Macy’s rose after reporting milder drops in revenue and profit than analysts expected for the latest quarter.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Wall Street nudged toward slim gains early on some positive first quarter performances from and ahead of earnings from the chipmaker and AI darling .
Futures for the S&P 500 ticked up 0.1% before the bell Wednesday, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average are largely unchanged. The technology heavy Nasdaq, where Nvidia trades, rose 0.2%.
Considered a bellwether for artificial intelligence demand, Nvidia will report its first-quarter earnings after the bell Wednesday. The California company has led the AI sector to become one of the stock market’s , though 2025 has been a tumultuous period for chipmakers in general. Nvidia's share price has stalled so far this year after tripling in 2023 and more than doubling last year.
The U.S. this month that placed limits on the number of artificial intelligence chips that could be exported to certain international markets without federal approval. That could prove a windfall for the California chipmaker, which has topped Wall Street expectations for eight consecutive quarters.
Analysts are expecting the California tech giant to post earnings per share of 73 cents on more than $43 billion in sales, up from 61 cents per share and $26 billion last year. It’s the last of the “Magnificent Seven” Big Tech companies to report this quarter.
Macy's shares rose 3% after the iconic New York department store chain despite posting lower sales and profit than it did in the same quarter a year ago. Macy's also maintained its sales forecast for the year while acknowledging that consumers have become increasingly cautious about spending due to President Donald Trump's trade wars.
Dick's Sporting Goods rose 1.4% after it hit Wall Street profit targets and logged record first quarter sales. Dick's also reaffirmed its previous 2025 guidance.
Shares of the video game retailer GameStop jumped 6% after announcing that it was raising $1.3 billion in a private offering, with some of the proceeds to be used to buy bitcoin. That follows a similar announcement from President Donald Trump’s media company on Tuesday, which said that it had . Trump Media and Technology Group said it planned to build up a bitcoin reserve with the proceeds.
Later Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its , when it left its benchmark lending rate alone for the third straight time. Officials for the U.S. central bank cited an increased risk of higher unemployment and inflation for the U.S. economy, in part due to Trump's sweeping tariffs.
Global markets were mixed after a closely watched auction of 40-year Japanese government bonds fell flat as worries mount over growing levels of debt.
In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei 225 index was nearly unchanged at 37,722.40.
Government debt and bonds have become an increasingly important issue for markets in wealthy countries in recent weeks as yields have climbed around the world.
Wednesday’s auction of about 500 billion yen (about $3.5 billion) drew a bid-to-cover ratio of just 2.21, the lowest level since July 2024. The ratio of the amount of bonds offered versus the amount of bids received is seen as a measure of demand. When demand is slack, bond prices fall and yields rise.
After years of pumping money into the economy through hefty bond purchases, Japan's central bank has been gradually cutting back, undermining demand at a time when other institutional investors also have been buying fewer JGBs.
The dollar rose to 144.45 Japanese yen from 144.36 yen. The euro fell to $1.1320 from $1.1329.
Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.5% to 23,258.31, while the Shanghai Composite index ended flat at 3,393.93.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% higher to 8,396.90. The S&P/NZX 50 in New Zealand fell 1.8% after the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, as expected, to 3.25%.
In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.3% to 2,670.15, helped by a global rally in technology shares. Samsung Electronics' shares climbed 3.7% while SK Hynix was up 2.7%.
In Taiwan, the Taiex added 0.1%. India's Sensex slipped 0.1%.
In Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX fell 0.4%, while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.2%. Britain’s FTSE 100 was unchanged.
Oil prices rose after the U.S. authorization to Chevron to export crude from Venezuela expired Tuesday. The Trump Administration has been trying to U.S.
U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 62 cents to $61.51 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 58 cents at $64.15 per barrel.
Elaine Kurtenbach And Matt Ott, The Associated Press
