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  • Nvidia’s strong earnings and a solid report on the job market boost US index futures

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    NEW YORK — U.S. stock index futures added to their gains after the government reported that employers added twice as many jobs as expected in September. Futures were already higher on enthusiasm for a strong earnings report from AI bellwether Nvidia. Futures for the S&P 500 were up 1.5% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8%. Futures for the Nasdaq shot 1.9% higher. The Labor Department said employapners added 119,000 jobs in September, more than double the 50,000 economists had forecast. The market also focused on Nvidia as Wall Street’s most influential company jumped 5.1% overnight after reporting better-than-expected results.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

    Wall Street surged on Thursday after Nvidia reported stronger than expected quarterly earnings, tempering worries that AI-related stocks may have become overvalued.

    Futures for the S&P 500 were up 1.1% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%. Futures for the Nasdaq shot 1.6% higher.

    The market’s focus remained on Nvidia as Wall Street’s most influential stock jumped 5.1% overnight after the chipmaker reported third-quarter earnings of $31.9 billion. That’s a 65% increase over last year and more than analysts were expecting.

    The Santa Clara, California company also forecast revenue for the current quarter covering November-January will come in at about $65 billion, nearly $3 billion above analysts’ projections, an indication that demand for its AI chips remains feverish.

    Nvidia is the most valuable company by market capitalization on Wall Street, having briefly topped $5 trillion in value. That means its movements have more of an effect on the S&P 500 than any other stock, and it can single-handedly steer the index’s direction some days.

    By continuing to deliver big profits for investors, Nvidia has mostly quieted recent criticism that its shares shot too high, too fast.

    Nvidia has become a bellwether for the broader frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, because other companies are using its chips to ramp up their AI efforts.

    Walmart also reported its latest quarterly results Thursday. The Arkansas retailer delivered another standout quarter, posting strong sales and profits that blew past Wall Street expectations as it continues to lure cash-strapped Americans who have grown increasingly anxious about the economy and prices.

    With other retailers dialing back projections, the nation’s largest retailer raised its financial outlook Thursday after its strong third quarter, setting itself up for a strong holiday shopping season.

    Traders also made their final moves ahead of a September jobs report coming from the U.S. government on Thursday. The labor market data, usually released during the first week of every month, was delayed due to the six-week federal government shutdown.

    The Labor Department said Wednesday that it will not be releasing a full jobs report for October because the 43-day shutdown meant it couldn’t calculate the unemployment rate and some other key numbers.

    The job market has been slowing enough this year that the Fed has already cut its main interest rate twice. Lower rates can give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, and the expectation on Wall Street had been for more cuts, including at the Fed’s next meeting in December.

    But some Fed officials are hinting that they should pause next month, in part because inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target. Lower interest rates can worsen inflation.

    At midday in Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 0.8%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 and the CAC 40 in Paris each added 0.6%.

    In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index initially surged as much as 4.2% before giving up some early gains. It closed nearly 2.7% higher at 49,823.94 as technology stocks rallied, with investor sentiment boosted by Nvidia’s strong quarterly results after trading closed in the U.S.

    South Korea’s Kospi added 1.9% to 4,004.85, with gains led by technology and energy stocks. Investors were encouraged by Nvidia’s earnings and reports that the U.S. may delay planned semiconductor tariffs.

    Samsung Electronics gained 4.2%, while SK Hynix added 1.6%.

    Chinese markets ended mixed as reports said the government might be planning more measures to try to revive the ailing property sector.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was barely changed at 25,835.57, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.4% to 3,931.05 after China’s central bank kept its one- and five-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3% and 3.5%, respectively.

    Taiwan’s Taiex closed 3.2% higher while India’s BSE Sensex added nearly 0.7%.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.2% to 8,552.70, also led by gains for technology stocks.

    In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 59 cents, or 1%, to $59.61 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 62 cents to $64.13 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar climbed to 157.66 Japanese yen from 157.06 yen. It has been trading at nearly the highest level this year on expectations that the government will delay efforts to rein in Japan’s national debt as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi raises spending to help spur the economy.

    The euro fell to $1.1515 from $1.1538.

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  • Nvidia’s earnings attest to its leadership in the AI race. By the numbers

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    Nvidia reported more eye-catching numbers for its fiscal third quarter Wednesday, with net income jumping 65% and revenue increasing 62% from a year earlier.

    Last month, Nvidia became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion.

    The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.

    Nvidia carved out an early lead in tailoring its chipsets known as graphics processing units, or GPUs, from use in powering video games to helping to train powerful AI systems, like the technology behind ChatGPT and image generators. Demand skyrocketed as more people began using AI chatbots. Tech companies scrambled for more chips to build and run them.

    Nvidia’s journey to be one of the world’s most prominent companies has produced some extraordinary numbers. Here’s a look.

    $31.9 billion

    Nvidia’s net income for the third quarter, up from $19.3 billion a year ago.

    38.9%

    Nvidia stock’s gain for the year, as of the close of trading Wednesday. That follows gains of 171% in 2024 and 239% in 2023.

    $4.53 trillion

    Nvidia’s total market capitalization as of the close of trading Wednesday, tops in the S&P 500.

    Apple at $3.98 trillion and Microsoft at $3.62 trillion were next among the most valuable companies in the S&P 500. In all, nine companies in the index have market cap’s above $1 trillion.

    $4.28 trillion

    The gross domestic product of Japan, the world’s fourth largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fund.

    79

    The number of trading days it took for Nvidia’s market cap to grow from $4 trillion to $5 trillion earlier this year. The market cap had jumped from $3 trillion on May 13, to $4 trillion on July 9 (41 trading days), although Nvidia had crossed and fallen back below the $3 trillion threshold a number of times between June 2024 and May 2025 before making the run to $4 trillion.

    19.8%

    The company’s contribution to the gain in the S&:P 500 this year as of Oct. 31, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

    $162 billion

    The net worth of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to Forbes, putting him eighth on its Real-Time Billionaires List. Elon Musk is No. 1 at $467.7 billion.

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  • Asian shares sink, tracking a tech-led sell-off on Wall Street

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    BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares tumbled on Tuesday, with benchmarks in Tokyo and Seoul sinking more than 3%, after Nvidia and other artificial-intelligence -related shares pulled U.S. stocks lower.

    U.S. futures dropped, with the contract for the S&P 500 down 0.6% while the future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4%.

    Computer chip giant Nvidia, at the center of the craze over AI, is due to report its earnings on Wednesday. Worries that stock prices of such companies have shot too high have roiled world markets recently, with big swings in places that rely heavily on trade in computer chips such as South Korea and Taiwan.

    Also hanging over the markets is the release due Thursday of U.S. employment data that was delayed by the prolonged government shutdown.

    Regional markets felt a chill after the yield on 30-year Japanese government bonds surged to 3.31%, reflecting rising risks as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi prepares to boost government spending and push back the timetable for bringing down Japan’s huge national debt.

    The yen was trading above 155 to the U.S. dollar, near its highest level since February. On Monday, the yen fell to its lowest level against the euro since 1999, when the unified European currency was launched.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 3% at 48,835.20 by midday, with selling of tech shares leading the decline. Chip maker Tokyo Electron shed 5.4%, while equipment maker Advantest dropped 4.6%.

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    In Seoul, the Kospi fell 3.1% to 3,960.82. Samsung Electronics dropped 2.9%, while chip maker SK Hynix shed 5.7%.

    In Taiwan, the Taiex fell 2.3% as TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, declined 2.4%.

    Chinese markets were not immune from heavy selling.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.5% to 25,997.20, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.6% to 3,949.83.

    In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gave up 2.1% to 8,452.50.

    On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.9% to 6,672.41, pulling further from its all-time high set late last month. The Dow industrials dropped 1.2% to 46,590.24, while the Nasdaq composite sank 0.8% to 22,708.07.

    Nvidia dropped 1.8%, though it is still up nearly 40% this year. Losses for other AI winners included a 6.4% slide for Super Micro Computer.

    Other areas of the market that had been high-momentum winners also sank. Bitcoin extended its decline, dragging down Coinbase Global by 7.1% and Robinhood Markets by 5.3%. Early Tuesday, it was down 2% at $90,110.

    Critics have been warning that the U.S. stock market could be primed for a drop because of how high prices have shot since April, leaving them looking too expensive.

    However, Alphabet gained 3.1% after Berkshire Hathaway said it has built a $4.34 billion ownership stake in Google’s parent company. Berkshire Hathaway, run by famed investor Warren Buffett, is notorious for trying to buy stocks only when they look like good values while avoiding anything that looks too expensive.

    Another source of potential disappointment for Wall Street is what the Federal Reserve does with interest rates. The expectation had been that the Fed would keep cutting interest rates in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market.

    But the downside of lower interest rates is that they can make inflation worse, and inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target.

    Fed officials have also pointed to the U.S. government’s shutdown, which delayed the release of updates on the job market and other signals about the economy. With less information and less certainty about how things are going, some Fed officials have suggested it may be better to wait in December to get more clarity.

    A strong jobs report on Thursday would likely stay the Fed’s hand on rate cuts, while figures that are very weak would raise worries about the economy.

    In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 42 cents to $59.49 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 43 cents to $63.77 per barrel.

    The dollar fell to 155.08 Japanese yen from 155.26 yen. The euro rose to $1.1600 from $1.1593.

    ___

    AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

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  • Asian shares are mostly lower after US stocks stumble

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    BANGKOK — Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Monday while U.S. futures advanced after Wall Street’s lackluster finish to last week.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% to 50,226.67 after the government reported that the Japanese economy contracted at a 1.8% annual pace in the July-September quarter.

    The dollar rose against the Japanese yen, climbing to 154.65 yen from 154.58 yen.

    Chinese markets also slipped, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.8% to 26,359.22. The Shanghai Composite index declined 0.4% to 3,973.31.

    Geopolitical tensions have also hurt sentiment in East Asia, as relations between China and Japan have deteriorated due to a spat following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that a Chinese move against self-governing Taiwan could prompt a Japanese military response.

    China objects to other countries’ involvement in Taiwan, which Beijing claims it as its own and destined to come under its control. The Chinese government has warned its citizens not to travel to Japan or study there.

    “China’s escalation against Japan over Prime Minister Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks has moved from a diplomatic irritant to a consequential macro input, with markets now forced to reprice Asia’s near-term risk curve,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

    In South Korea, the Kospi gained 1.7% to 4,078.39 on buying of tech-related shares. Computer chip makers have rallied after they formed plans with industry leader Nvidia to cooperate in developing artificial intelligence, with SK Hynix surging 6.8% on Monday and Samsung Electronics up 3.3%.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped less than 0.1% to 8,628.60.

    In Taiwan, the Taiex picked up 0.4%, while India’s Sensex gained 0.3%.

    The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.

    On Friday, the S&P 500 meandered as Nvidia, bitcoin, gold and other high flyers swung sharply before calming. It ended down less than 0.1% at 6,734.11. The Dow fell 0.7% to 47,147.48, while the Nasdaq composite index inched up 0.1% to 22,900.59.

    Friday’s mixed outcome followed one of Wall Street’s worst drops since a sell-off in the spring.

    Nvidia, which has become the poster child of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, began the day with a loss of 3.4%. It then stormed back to a rise of 1.8% and yanked the market in its wake.

    Critics have been warning that the U.S. stock market could be primed for a drop because of how high prices have shot since April, leaving them looking too expensive.

    Even with recent sharp swings for the S&P 500, the index that dictates the movements for many 401(k) accounts remains within 2.3% of its record set late last month.

    One way companies can tamp down criticism about too-high stock prices is to deliver solid growth in profits. That’s raising the stakes for Nvidia’s profit report coming Wednesday, when it will say how much it earned during the summer.

    Treasury yields had been falling for most of this year on expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut its main interest rate several times. And the Fed has indeed cut twice already in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market.

    But questions are rising about whether a third cut will actually come after the Fed’s next meeting in December, something that traders had earlier seen as very likely. The downside of lower interest rates is that they can make inflation worse, and inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target.

    Fed officials have pointed to the U.S. government’s shutdown, which delayed the release of updates on the job market and other signals about the economy. With less information and less certainty about how things are going, some Fed officials have suggested it may be better just to wait in December to get more clarity.

    Bitcoin is one of the investments that can get a boost from lower interest rates. It rose 1.1% early Monday to about $95,400. It was near $125,000 in October.

    In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 63 cents to $59.46 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 63 cents to $63.76 per barrel.

    The euro fell to $1.1602 from $1.1605.

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  • Wall Street scrambles back from a big morning loss as Nvidia and bitcoin swing

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    NEW YORK (AP) — An early swoon shook the U.S. stock market on Friday, as Nvidia, bitcoin, gold and other high flyers swung on an increasingly antsy Wall Street, but it quickly calmed.

    After starting the day with a sharp drop of 1.3%, the S&P 500 erased all of it and then meandered up and down before finishing with a slight dip of 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite flipped to a gain of 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average trimmed its loss to 309 points, or 0.7%, after earlier being down nearly 600.

    Options traders Steven Rodriguez, left, and Scott Frenzy work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

    AI stocks were again at the center of the action, a day after dragging Wall Street to one of its worst drops since its springtime sell-off. Nvidia, which has become the poster child of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, began the day with a loss of 3.4%. It then stormed back to a rise of 1.8% and yanked the market in its wake.

    Critics have been warning that the U.S. stock market could be primed for a drop because of how high prices have shot since April, leaving them looking too expensive. They pointed in particular to stocks swept up in the AI mania. Nvidia’s stock has more than doubled in four of the last five years, for example, and the chip company is still up more than 40% for this year so far.

    AP AUDIO: Wall Street erases a big early loss as Nvidia and bitcoin swing

    Nvidia and other Big Tech companies are lifting Wall Street. We hear more from AP business correspondent Seth Sutel.

    Even with sharp swings for the S&P 500 the last couple of weeks, the index that dictates the movements for many 401(k) accounts remains within 2.3% of its record set late last month.

    “Occasional market drops are the price of the ticket for the ride,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.

    Outside of tech, Walmart edged down 0.1% after saying CEO Doug McMillon will retire in January in a surprise move. It had been down as much as 3.6% in the morning. McMillon helped the retailer embrace technology more.

    All told, the S&P 500 fell 3.38 points to 6,734.11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 309.74 to 47,147.48, and the Nasdaq composite rose 30.23 to 22,900.59.

    One way companies can tamp down criticism about too-high stock prices is to deliver solid growth in profits. That’s raising the stakes for Nvidia’s profit report coming Wednesday, when it will say how much it earned during the summer.

    Options trader Anthony Spina works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

    Options trader Anthony Spina works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

    If it falls short of analysts’ expectations, more drops could be on the way. That would have a big effect on the market because Nvidia has grown to become Wall Street’s largest stock by value. That gives Nvidia’s stock movements a bigger effect on the S&P 500 than any other’s, and it can almost single-handedly steer the index’s direction on any given day.

    Another way for stock prices broadly to look less expensive is if interest rates fall. That’s because bonds paying less in interest can make investors willing to pay higher prices for stocks and other kinds of investments.

    Treasury yields had been falling for most of this year on expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut its main interest rate several times. And the Fed has indeed cut twice already in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market.

    But questions are rising about whether a third cut will actually come after the Fed’s next meeting in December, something that traders had earlier seen as very likely. The downside of lower interest rates is that they can make inflation worse, and inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target.

    Fed officials have pointed to the U.S. government’s shutdown, which delayed the release of updates on the job market and other signals about the economy. With less information and less certainty about how things are going, some Fed officials have suggested it may be better just to wait in December to get more clarity.

    In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.14% from 4.11% late Thursday.

    Specialist Anthony Matesic works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

    Specialist Anthony Matesic works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

    Bitcoin is one of the investments that can get a boost from lower interest rates. It fell below $95,000, back to where it was in May. It had been near $125,000 only in October.

    The price of gold, meanwhile, sank 2.4%. It shot to records throughout the year as investors looked for something that could protect from high inflation and big debt loads built by the U.S. and other governments worldwide. But interest rates staying higher can hurt gold, which pays its investors nothing in interest or dividends.

    In stock markets abroad, indexes dropped across Europe and Asia. South Korea’s Kospi fell 3.8% for one of the world’s largest losses.

    London’s FTSE 100 sank 1.1% amid speculation the U.K. government may ditch plans to raise income taxes, which would have helped chip away at its debt.

    ___

    AP Writer Teresa Cerojano contributed.

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  • How major US stock indexes fared Friday, 11/14/2025

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    An early swoon shook the U.S. stock market, but it quickly calmed.

    After starting Friday with a sharp drop of 1.3%, the S&P 500 erased all of it before ending with a slight dip of 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite flipped to a gain of 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average trimmed its loss to 309 points after earlier being down nearly 600.

    AI stocks once again were at the center of the action. Nvidia began the day with a steep loss, only to erase it, and yanked the market in its wake. Bitcoin and gold’s price sank as Treasury yields rose.

    On Friday:

    The S&P 500 fell 3.38 points, or 0.1%, to 6,734.11.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 309.74 points, or 0.7%, to 47,147.48.

    The Nasdaq composite rose 30.23 points, or 0.1%, to 22,900.59.

    The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.24 points, or 0.2%, to 2,388.23.

    For the week:

    The S&P 500 is up 5.31 points, or 0.1%.

    The Dow is up 160.38 points, or 0.3%.

    The Nasdaq is down 103.95 points, or 0.5%.

    The Russell 2000 is down 44.60 points, or 1.8%.

    For the year:

    The S&P 500 is up 852.48 points, or 14.5%.

    The Dow is up 4,603.26 points, or 10.8%.

    The Nasdaq is up 3,589.80 points, or 18.6%.

    The Russell 2000 is up 158.07 points, or 7.1%.

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  • Asian shares are mostly higher after Trump signs bill ending US government shutdown

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    MANILA, Philippines — Asian shares mostly gained on Thursday after U.S. stocks settled near their records and U.S. President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill, ending the record 43-day shutdown.

    U.S. futures edged higher with the prospect of a reopening of the federal government Thursday following the shutdown that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks.

    “The shutdown had blocked not just spending, but also delayed a raft of federal economic data,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary, adding that “for markets, the only line that matters is simple: the lights are coming back on.”

    Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.3% to 51,213.35. Market heavyweight and tech giant SoftBank Group lost another 3.4% on top of a 3.5% drop on Wednesday after the company said it had sold all of its shares in computer chip maker Nvidia.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.3% to 27,009.65, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 0.7% to 4,029.50 as mainland stocks climbed ahead of updates on lending in China.

    Australia’s S&P ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 8,753.40, falling for a third straight session as hopes for near-term interest rate cuts were quashed by strong jobs data that showed unemployment falling to 4.3% in October from 4.5% in September.

    South Korea’s Kospi fluctuated between gains and losses, rising 0.6% to 4,176.44 in afternoon trading.

    Taiwan’s Taiex index gained nearly 0.2% while India’s BSE Sensex added 0.3%.

    On Wednesday, the S&P 500 added 0.1% to 6,850.92, near its all-time high set a couple weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.7% to set a record for the second straight day, closing at 48,254.82. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3% to 23,406.46.

    Shares in airlines jumped on expectations of a recovery in air travel following the end of the shutdown.

    Advanced Micro Devices led the market, gaining 9% after its CEO, Lisa Su, said the chip company expects better than 35% of annual compounded revenue growth over the next three to five years. She credited “accelerating AI momentum.”

    Stocks benefiting from the artificial-intelligence frenzy have been shaky recently, as investors question whether how much more they can add to already spectacular gains.

    They are one of the top reasons the U.S. market has hit records despite a slowing job market and high inflation. Their prices have shot so high, though, that critics say they’re reminiscent of the 2000 dot-com bubble, which ultimately burst and dragged the S&P 500 down by nearly half.

    Nvidia came into the day with a 4.6% drop for the month so far, for example, after its stock price more than doubled in four of the last five years. The biggest player in AI chips swung between gains and losses throughout Wednesday. Palantir Technologies, another AI darling, fell 3.6% for one of the day’s larger losses in the S&P 500.

    Similar questions about prices are dogging much of the U.S. market, though not as pointedly as for Big Tech and AI superstars.

    In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil fell 9 cents to $58.40 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 8 cents to $62.37 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar rose to 154.93 Japanese yen from 154.70 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1592 from $1.1594.

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  • Global shares advance after the Dow hits a fresh record

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    TOKYO — World shares have advanced, with markets in Europe and most of Asia higher after the Dow industrials hit a fresh record as technology shares appeared to recover from last week’s swoon over the future of artificial intelligence.

    France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.5% to 8,193.98, while the German DAX surged nearly 1.1% to 24,357.28. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 9,906.82.

    The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.4% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%.

    In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.4% to finish at 51,063.31.

    SoftBank Group’s shares fell 3.5%, plunging as much as 9% earlier in the day after it said Tuesday that it sold its entire stake in the AI chip company Nvidia for $5.83 billion last month, raising funds for other investments.

    A big question has been whether investors will push the craze for AI stocks further. Their sensational growth has been one of the top reasons the U.S. market has hit records despite a slowing job market and still-high inflation. But their prices have shot so high that critics say they’re reminiscent of the 2000 dot-com bubble, which ultimately burst and dragged the S&P 500 down by nearly half.

    Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.9% to 26,922.73, while the Shanghai Composite edged down less than 0.1% to 4,000.14.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 8,799.50. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.1% to 4,150.39.

    On Tuesday, the S&P 500 added 0.2%, bouncing a bit following a vigorous rebound Monday that followed its first losing week in four.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1.2%, to a record close of 47,927.96, surpassing its prior all-time high set two weeks ago.

    The Nasdaq composite lagged the market as Nvidia slipped 3% due to continued concerns that stocks caught up in the artificial-intelligence frenzy may have become too expensive.

    In the U.S. bond market, trading was closed for the Veterans Day holiday.

    What’s making the Federal Reserve’s job potentially more difficult is that the U.S. government’s shutdown has delayed important updates on jobs and other areas of the economy. The Senate has made moves to end what’s become the longest-ever shutdown, but it’s not assured.

    In other dealings early Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude declined 34 cents to $60.70 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 31 cents to $64.85 a barrel.

    The U.S. dollar edged up to 154.76 Japanese yen from 154.16 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1579 from $1.1583.

    ___

    Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

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  • How major US stock indexes fared Friday, 11/7/2025

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    Stock indexes wound up mixed on Wall Street but still clocked their first weekly loss in the last four.

    The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% Friday after spending most of the day in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.

    Quarterly reports from U.S. companies were a key focus.

    Payments company Block, which operates the Square and Cash App businesses, sank after turning in results that fell short of forecasts. Exercise equipment maker Peloton jumped after its results beat estimates.

    On Friday:

    The S&P 500 rose 8.48 points, or 0.1%, to 6,728.80.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74.80 points, or 0.2%, to 46,987.10.

    The Nasdaq composite fell 49.46 points, 0.2%, to 23,004.54.

    The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 14.00 points, or 0.6%, to 2,432.82

    For the week:

    The S&P 500 is down 111.40 points, or 1.6%.

    The Dow is down 575.77 points, or 1.2%.

    The Nasdaq is down 720.42 points, or 3%.

    The Russell 2000 is down 46.56 points, or 1.9%.

    For the year:

    The S&P 500 is up 847.17 points, or 14.4%.

    The Dow is up 4,442.88 points, or 10.4%.

    The Nasdaq is up 3,693.74 points, or 19.1%.

    The Russell 2000 is up 202.67 points, or 9.1%.

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  • Denny’s to be acquired and taken private in a deal valued at $620 million

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    Denny’s said Monday that it’s being acquired by a group on investors in a deal that will take the breakfast chain private.

    Denny’s board unanimously approved the deal, which values Denny’s at $620 million including debt. Denny’s will be purchased by private equity investment company TriArtisan Capital Advisors, investment firm Treville Capital and Yadav Enterprises, which is one of Denny’s largest franchisees.

    Under the agreement, Denny’s shareholders will receive $6.25 per share in cash for each share of Denny’s common stock they own, or a total of $322 million. That represents a 52% premium to Denny’s closing stock price Monday.

    Denny’s shares jumped 47% in after-hours trading Monday.

    Denny’s was founded in 1953 in Lakewood, California, as Danny’s Donuts. The name was changed to Denny’s Coffee Shops in 1959 to avoid confusion with another chain. Denny’s began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1969.

    Like many casual chains, Denny’s saw its sales plummet during the COVID pandemic. Once the pandemic eased, it found itself dealing with changing customer dining patterns, including a heavier reliance on delivery. Denny’s has also struggled as newer chains like First Watch promoted healthier breakfast options.

    Last fall, Denny’s said it planned to close 150 of its lowest-performing locations. At the end of the second quarter, Denny’s had 1,558 restaurants worldwide, including 1,422 Denny’s restaurants and 74 Keke’s restaurants. Denny’s acquired the Keke’s brand in 2022.

    Denny’s CEO Kelli Valade said the company reached out to more than 40 potential buyers and received multiple offers. Valade said Denny’s board believed the deal announced Monday was in the best interest of shareholders and the best path forward for the company.

    TriArtisan Co-Founder and Managing Director Rhohit Manocha called Denny’s “an iconic piece of the American dream” with a strong franchise base and loyal customers.

    “We look forward to working with Kelli and the rest of the Denny’s team and franchisees to provide resources and support the Company’s long-term strategic growth plans,” Manocha said in a statement.

    If it’s accepted by Denny’s shareholders, the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.

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  • Denny’s to be acquired and taken private in a deal valued at $620 million

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    Denny’s said Monday that it’s being acquired by a group on investors in a deal that will take the breakfast chain private.

    Denny’s board unanimously approved the deal, which values Denny’s at $620 million including debt. Denny’s will be purchased by private equity investment company TriArtisan Capital Advisors, investment firm Treville Capital and Yadav Enterprises, which is one of Denny’s largest franchisees.

    Under the agreement, Denny’s shareholders will receive $6.25 per share in cash for each share of Denny’s common stock they own, or a total of $322 million. That represents a 52% premium to Denny’s closing stock price Monday.

    Denny’s shares jumped 47% in after-hours trading Monday.

    Denny’s was founded in 1953 in Lakewood, California, as Danny’s Donuts. The name was changed to Denny’s Coffee Shops in 1959 to avoid confusion with another chain. Denny’s began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1969.

    Like many casual chains, Denny’s saw its sales plummet during the COVID pandemic. Once the pandemic eased, it found itself dealing with changing customer dining patterns, including a heavier reliance on delivery. Denny’s has also struggled as newer chains like First Watch promoted healthier breakfast options.

    Last fall, Denny’s said it planned to close 150 of its lowest-performing locations. At the end of the second quarter, Denny’s had 1,558 restaurants worldwide, including 1,422 Denny’s restaurants and 74 Keke’s restaurants. Denny’s acquired the Keke’s brand in 2022.

    Denny’s CEO Kelli Valade said the company reached out to more than 40 potential buyers and received multiple offers. Valade said Denny’s board believed the deal announced Monday was in the best interest of shareholders and the best path forward for the company.

    TriArtisan Co-Founder and Managing Director Rhohit Manocha called Denny’s “an iconic piece of the American dream” with a strong franchise base and loyal customers.

    “We look forward to working with Kelli and the rest of the Denny’s team and franchisees to provide resources and support the Company’s long-term strategic growth plans,” Manocha said in a statement.

    If it’s accepted by Denny’s shareholders, the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.

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  • Shares in Asia advance, led by tech stocks, after another week of gains for Wall St

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    BANGKOK — Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Monday after gains for Amazon carried the U.S. stock market to the finish of another winning week and month.

    U.S. futures and oil prices also were higher, while Japan’s markets were closed for a holiday.

    South Korea’s Kospi was up 2.6% at 4,212.20. Shares in Samsung Electronics, the country’s biggest company, jumped 3.4%.

    Chinese markets were more subdued, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gaining 0.4% to 26,017.76.

    A private sector measure of factory activity, the RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI, showed an overall slowing, to 50.6 in October from 51.2 in September. That’s on a scale from zero to 100 where 50 marks a level of expansion.

    The official PMI reading by the National Bureau of Statistics likewise showed factory activity slowing, to 49 last month from 49.8 in September.

    The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% higher, to 3,958.21.

    Taiwan’s benchmark also was up 0.1%.

    There was no immediate or obvious reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump’s assertion that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had promised not to take any action against the self-governed island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, while Trump is in office.

    The long-contentious issue of Taiwan did not come up in Trump’s talks with Xi on Thursday in South Korea that largely focused on U.S.-China trade tensions, Trump said. But in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, U.S. time, the U.S. leader expressed certainty that China would not take action on Taiwan while he’s in office.

    The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2% early Monday, while that for the S&P 500 gained 0.3%.

    On Friday, Amazon led the U.S. stock market higher, gaining 9.6% after it reported a much bigger profit than analysts had expected.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and pulled closer to its all-time high set on Tuesday. It closed at 6,840.20, finishing a third straight winning week and a sixth straight winning month, its longest monthly winning streak since 2021.

    The Dow industrials added 0.1% to 47,562.87. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.6% to 23,724.96.

    Amazon’s massive size of roughly $2.4 trillion means its stock movements carry more weight on the S&P 500 than almost any other company’s. Without it, the S&P 500 would have been down for the day.

    Another highly influential stock, Apple, delivered a better profit report than forecast. But it had less of an effect on the market and finished with a dip of 0.4%. Its CEO Tim Cook said it benefited from strong revenue for both its iPhone lineup and its services offerings, which include its app store.

    Companies face pressure to deliver big growth in profits to justify the huge gains their stock prices have made since April and counter worries that the U.S. stock market has become too expensive.

    A day earlier, the S&P 500 slumped 1% as investors appeared unnerved by big increases in spending that Meta Platforms and Microsoft are planning as part of the investment spree underway in artificial-intelligence technology. Financial markets also appeared skeptical that President Donald Trump’s trade truce with China would put an end to tensions between the two countries.

    In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 23 cents to $61.21 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 26 cents to $65.03 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar rose to 154.06 Japanese yen from 153.48 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1532 from $1.1537.

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  • Shares in Asia are mixed and Chinese markets fall despite Trump’s trade truce with Xi

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    MANILA, Philippines — Asian shares are mixed after the U.S. stock market sank from record heights as Wall Street sifted through various developments such as trade relations with China and profits of Big Tech giants.

    U.S. futures advanced and oil prices fell.

    President Donald Trump hailed his talk Thursday with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, but major tensions remain between the world’s two largest economies.

    Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.7% to 52,201.05, touching fresh records after data showed industrial production rose 2.2% month-on-month in September, beating market expectations and rebounding from a 1.5% drop the previous month.

    In Chinese markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.9% to 26,050.08 and the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.6% to 3,963.01.

    Data released Friday showed factory activity in China contracted in October for a seventh straight month. The official NBS Manufacturing PMI fell to 49.0 from 49.8 in September.

    South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4% to 4,105.81, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 8,903.50. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.5%.

    On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1% to 6,822.34, pulling further from its all-time high set on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2% to 47,522.12. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.6% from its record set the day before, closing at 23,581.14.

    Stock markets elsewhere in the world were mixed, coming off a highly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies. Trump rated his meeting with Xi as a “12” on a scale of zero to 10, saying he would cut tariffs.

    But stocks had already run to records on expectations for potentially bigger improvements in trade friction between Beijing and Washington.

    Earnings of Big Tech companies were also feeling the pressure of high hopes. Meta Platforms dropped 11.3%, cutting into what had been a 28.4% jump for the year so far. It was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Analysts said investors were likely perturbed by how much Facebook’s parent company said it’s planning to spend in 2026. Companies across the industry have been on an investment spree to build out their artificial-intelligence capabilities, and the concern is whether it will all pay off.

    “There are moments in market history when capital stops behaving like money and starts acting like obsession — when spending becomes the strategy, not the consequence. That’s exactly where we are now with artificial intelligence,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

    Microsoft sank 2.9% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Analysts pointed to how it also expects to spend more on investments in 2026 than in 2025, while growth for its Azure business may have fallen a bit short of some investors’ expectations.

    On the winning side of Big Tech was Alphabet. Shares of Google’s parent company climbed 2.5% after its profit and revenue for the latest quarter easily topped analysts’ expectations.

    How such companies do matters incredibly for investors. The trio of Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft alone account for 14.5% of the total value of all the companies in the S&P 500 index, which dictates the movements for many 401(k) accounts. That means movements for them and a handful of other Big Tech companies can easily overshadow what hundreds of other stocks are doing.

    In other dealings early Friday, benchmark U.S. crude oil shed 42 cents to $60.15 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 42 cents to $63.95.

    The U.S. dollar fell to 153.95 Japanese yen from 154.14 yen. The euro rose to $1.1573 from $1.1566.

    ___

    AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

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  • The stock market is breaking records. Time for a gut check

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Almost everything in your 401(k) should be coming up a winner now. That makes it time for a gut check.

    Not only is the U.S. stock market setting records, so are foreign stocks. Bond funds, which are supposed to be the boring and safe part of any portfolio, are also doing well this year, along with gold and cryptocurrencies.

    But in the midst of all the fun, it can pay to remember how you felt during April. That’s when financial markets were tumbling because of worldwide tariffs that President Donald Trump announced on his “Liberation Day.”

    Did all that fear push you to sell your stocks, lock in the losses and miss out on the stunning rebound that came afterward? Or did you hold tight, as many financial advisers suggested? Either way, it’s valuable information because another downturn could strike at any time.

    To be sure, many professionals along Wall Street are forecasting that the U.S. stock market will keep rising. But the threat of a sharp drop remains, as it always does. That leaves investors with the luxury now, while prices are high, to reassess. Don’t get lulled into leaving your 401(k) on autopilot, unless you’re intentionally doing so, and make sure your portfolio isn’t stuffed with too much risk.

    Here are some things to keep in mind:

    The stock market is doing well?

    It’s been another fabulous year for stocks. The S&P 500 has soared more than 35% from its low point in April, shortly after “Liberation Day.”

    The market has had a few hiccups recently, as worries have popped up about everything from potentially bad loans at some banks to renewed talk about much higher tariffs on China. But stocks have come back from each stumble, only to push higher.

    “The market continues to (hit) record highs on the back of strong earnings and easing U.S.–China trade tensions,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide, who calls the current state of “steady growth without irrational exuberance” a ”Goldilocks environment.”

    If the market’s great, why should I worry?

    You don’t need to worry at the moment, but remember that the stock market will fall eventually. It always does.

    The S&P 500 index, which sits at the heart of many 401(k) accounts, has forced investors to swallow a 10% drop every couple of years or so, on average. That’s what Wall Street calls a “correction,” and professional investors see them as ways to clear out excessive optimism that may have built up and pushed prices too high. More serious drops of at least 20%, which Wall Street calls “bear markets,” are less common but can last for years.

    Back in April, the S&P 500 index plunged nearly 20% from its record at the time. But the market came back, propelled by the big tech companies that have led the way the last few years.

    “Fundamentally superior stocks recover quickly and bounce like fresh tennis balls, while fundamentally inferior stocks bounce like rocks.” said Louis Navellier, founder and chief investment officer of asset manager Navellier & Associates, who also brushed off worries that the stock market is in a bubble.

    What could trip up the market?

    The stock market has charged to records because investors are expecting several important things to happen. If any fail to pan out, it would undercut the market.

    Chief among those expectations is that big U.S. companies will continue to deliver big growth in profits. That’s one of the few ways they can justify the jumps for their stock prices and quiet criticism that they’ve become too expensive.

    Critics point in particular to the frenzy going on in artificial-intelligence technology. There, they hear echoes of the dot-com bonanza that ultimately imploded in 2000 and sent stocks on a yearslong descent. One popular measure of valuing stocks, which looks at corporate profits over the preceding 10 years, showed the S&P 500 recently was near its most expensive level since the 2000 dot-com bubble.

    Consider Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the poster child of the AI trade. If it fails to meet analysts’ high expectations for growth, its stock will look more expensive than it already does. It’s trading at 54 times its earnings per share over the last 12 months, much higher than the overall S&P 500’s price-earnings ratio of nearly 30.

    What’s the next event to be mindful of?

    Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Reserve could be a key moment for the market.

    Besides companies delivering bigger profits or stock prices falling, another way for the stock market to look less expensive is if interest rates ease.

    The widespread expectation is that the Fed will cut its main interest rate to support the slowing job market and deliver more reductions through next year. But the Fed has also warned it may hold off on cuts if inflation accelerates beyond its still-high level. That’s because lower interest rates can make inflation worse, and Wednesday’s focus will be on whether the Fed gives any hints about the likelihood of more cuts in coming months.

    Several of Wall Street’s most influential stocks will also be reporting their latest earnings results this week, including Microsoft and Apple. And Trump will be meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping on Thursday. The market has already run up on hopes that the two will ease rising trade tensions at some point.

    If there’s a bubble, I should sell everything, right?

    A famous saying on Wall Street is that being too early is the same as being wrong.

    Consider prescient investors who knew that stocks were too expensive when former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan famously talked about the possibility of “irrational exuberance” in financial markets. That was in late 1996.

    If they sold then, they would have missed out as the bubble inflated further and the S&P 500 more than doubled through late March 2000 before it popped.

    Instead, the better way to think of it may be: Make sure your investments are set up the right way, so you can stomach the market whether it goes up or down.

    How much of my 401(k) should be in stocks?

    It depends on your age and how much risk you’re willing to take.

    If you did sell stocks this past April, you may have had too much of your portfolio in stocks for your risk tolerance. Or you may need to steel yourself more during the next drop.

    Remember that anyone decades away from retirement has the luxury of waiting out any drops in the market. Bear markets are actually great in that case, because they put stocks on sale for anyone continuing to make regular contributions to their 401(k) account.

    Workers closer to retirement still need stocks, though in smaller proportions, because they have historically provided the highest returns over the long term, and a retirement can last decades.

    “They aren’t the most sexy, but companies with dependable dividends are a good bet, as are simple index funds designed to track the S&P 500 or a subset aimed at value or growth,” said John Kiernan, managing editor of personal finance site WalletHub.

    “Young people need to grow their money over time, and they will have decades to make up for any losses,” Kiernan said. “Older people need to protect the money they have now, which might mean favoring bonds and high-yield savings accounts over risky investments.”

    It’s easy to see how much stock retirement savers are recommended to hold at various ages. Mutual-fund companies have target-date retirement funds, which are built as autopilot products that will automatically move investors from lots of stocks when they’re young to fewer stocks when they’re closer to retirement.

    The average target-date fund for workers just starting their careers had 92% of its portfolio invested in stocks at the end of last year, according to Morningstar. Target-date funds designed for people entering retirement have a bit under 50% invested in stocks, meanwhile.

    I hate all this uncertainty

    Unfortunately, it’s the price you have to pay if you want the strong returns that the U.S. stock market has historically provided over the long term.

    This is what the stock market does. It goes up and down, sometimes by shocking amounts, but it usually helps patient savers build their nest eggs over decades.

    Ben Fulton, CEO of WEBs investments, recommends monitoring volatility by paying attention to the VIX, a volatility index, sometimes called the “fear index, which measures market expectations of future risk. The VIX is currently around 16, which Fulton said signals ”calm by historical standards.”

    “When the VIX begins to hold consistently above 20, it often signals a time to gradually reduce market exposure,” he said. That happened during the tech bubble and more recently during the pandemic in 2020 and when inflation spiked in 2022.

    “Until then, maintaining positions is critical, as markets that rise steadily can continue longer than logic might suggest, and stepping aside too early can mean missing valuable portfolio appreciation,” Fulton said.

    “Markets rarely behave as we want, instead reflecting the collective sentiment of all investors.”

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  • How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 10/29/2025

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    U.S. stocks bounced around their records after the Federal Reserve made moves to boost the job market but warned that more help isn’t guaranteed

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  • How major US stock indexes fared Friday, 10/24/2025

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    Wall Street rose to records after an update said U.S. households are feeling a bit less pain from inflation than feared

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  • Asian shares rise after White House confirms plans for Trump to meet with Chinese leader Xi

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    MANILA, Philippines — Asian shares were mostly higher Friday after the White House confirmed plans for President Donald Trump to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week.

    The confirmation reduced some of the uncertainty surrounding trade tensions between the two biggest economies, though prospects for a significant trade deal remain unclear.

    Chinese benchmarks also gained after the ruling Communist Party wrapped up an important planning meeting without any major policy changes.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.6% to 26,122.10, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.4% to 3,938.98.

    Japan’s Nikkei 225 rebounded Friday from the previous day’s losses, adding nearly 1.5% to 49,380.25. Tech shares were among gainers as sentiment was boosted by the White House confirmation of Trump’s meeting with Xi.

    Data released Friday showed Japan’s core inflation rate rose to 2.9% in September from 2.7% in August. Despite price pressures, the Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at a meeting next week: newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has expressed a preference to keep rates low.

    In Seoul, the Kospi surged 2.3% to 3,935.75, a fresh record, as gains on Wall Street and news of the Trump-Xi summit lifted investor sentiment and eased trade worries.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped less than 0.1% to 9,027.00 after preliminary data showed Australia’s factory activity contracted to 49.7 in October from 51.4 in September.

    India’s BSE Sensex was nearly unchanged, while Taiwan’s stock market was closed for a holiday.

    U.S. stocks rose to the cusp of their records on Thursday, as oil prices jumped after President Donald Trump announced “massive” new sanctions on Russia’s crude industry.

    On Wall Street on Thursday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 6,738.44, within 0.2% of its all-time high set earlier this month.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% to 46,734.61, just below its own record set earlier this week. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9% to 22,941.80.

    Companies in the oil and gas business led the way, including gains of 1.1% for Exxon Mobil, 3.1% for ConocoPhillips and 3.4% for Diamondback Energy. They rose with prices for crude, which leaped roughly 5.5% after Trump announced the sanctions against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil.

    The hope is to convince Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, to end the brutal war with Ukraine, and sanctions could constrict the global flow of oil.

    The jumps helped oil prices recover some of their sharp recent losses, taken because of expectations for supplies of crude in inventories to remain plentiful. Oil prices are still down more than 10% for the year so far, and early Friday, they slipped further. U.S. benchmark crude lost 22 cents to $61.57 per barrel, while Brent crude was down 21 cents at $65.78.

    Strong profit reports from several big U.S. companies helped push benchmarks higher.

    Chemicals maker Dow jumped 12.9%, and Las Vegas Sands rallied 12.4% after both delivered stronger earnings than analysts expected. Tesla shook off an early loss to climb 2.3% after reporting a weaker profit but stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

    The pressure is on companies broadly to deliver solid growth in profits. That would counter criticism that their stock prices shot too high following a 35% romp for the S&P 500 from a low in April.

    In other dealings early Friday, the price of gold slipped 0.4% to $4,129.30 an ounce. On Thursday it had climbed 2% to $4,145.60 per ounce.

    The U.S. dollar rose to 152.96 Japanese yen from 152.60. The euro slid to $1.1608 from $1.1618.

    ___

    AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

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  • Musk’s rollercoaster year: From boycotts to a potential trillion-dollar payday

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — If someone left a government job with a black eye, literally, ran a company with shrinking profits, and suddenly had federal investigators crawling over their business, you might say they’re having a bad year.

    But most people are not Elon Musk.

    The world’s richest man has only gotten richer this year and shareholders at Tesla, his electric car company, may make him wealthier yet by approving a trillion-dollar pay package in a bet he will succeed with new plans for a “robot army” and other technological breakthroughs even as some past promises remain unfulfilled.

    “The genius of Elon Musk is keeping investors focused on what the company might look in like 5 or 10 years — while ignoring very near-term challenges,” marvels Garrett Nelson of CFRA Research. Or put more bluntly by Zacks Investment’s Brian Mulberry, “Your average CEO would likely not survive this.”

    Musk started out the year with a side hustle — promising to cut $2 trillion in government spending as head of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, before cutting that pledge in half. In the end, DOGE posted only $240 billion in savings, according to its own notoriously unreliable estimates, and it’s not even clear those savings will hold as the Trump administration scrambles to refill many essential jobs DOGE cut that it shouldn’t have.

    “There is a pattern of them announcing great big firings, and then turning about and saying, ’No, that’s a mistake,’” said Elaine Kamarck, a Brookings Institute senior fellow who has compiled a list of 17,000 positions being refilled. “They cut without a plan, without regard to function.”

    Musk used the same slash-and-burn tactics after he took over Twitter and evidence of that backfiring has emerged this year, too.

    In the past two months, he’s settled a pair of lawsuits filed by 2,000 former Twitter employees and executives alleging that they were pushed out under false pretenses or never given severance as promised. The amount the ex-workers got was undisclosed, but if they received even a fraction of the combined $628 million they were demanding, the cost will cut deeply for a company whose advertising has plunged since his takeover.

    More bad news for Musk came Wednesday when Tesla announced earnings had plunged 37% in the third quarter. Vehicle sales rose 6% as customers rushed to take advantage of a federal tax credit before it expired last month, but the figure for the full year is expected to drop significantly as car buyers turned off by Musk’s right-wing political stances have boycotted the business.

    This time a year ago Musk was telling investors sales could grow 20% to 30%.

    The stock fell earlier this year as the bad news piled up. But after Musk appeared in the Oval Office in May for his farewell to DOGE sporting a shiner, it has doubled and is now posting a year-to-date gain of nearly 9% after the close of regular trading Wednesday. His net worth has also jumped — up $62 billion this year to $483 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

    Investors are mostly buying Musk’s line that plunging car sales don’t matter as much now because the future of the company lies more with his new driverless robotaxis service, the energy storage business and building robots for the home and factory. To make his task worth while, Tesla’s directors are asking shareholders to sign off on his enormous new pay package at an annual meeting next month.

    But there are big questions surrounding these endeavors, particularly the driverless cabs.

    Musk’s robotaxis, which began picking up passengers in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco this summer, can’t yet be called driverless because they still require “safety monitors” who are ready to seize control in case something goes wrong, which occasionally happens. One of them drove down the opposing lane, for example.

    The robotaxi plans need approval from regulators in various states even as the ones in Washington have swarmed the company.

    They’ve opened four investigations into Tesla so far this year, including one into why it hasn’t reported accidents involving its self-driving software quickly to the government as required. Another launched earlier this month is looking into dozens of reported accidents in which Teslas using self-driving software ran red lights and broke other traffic rules, occasionally crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.

    Musk has disappointed before, talking big and missing deadlines repeatedly, only to deliver for shareholders eventually. Tesla investors who held on through a tough 2018 as the company struggled to produce its Model 3 vehicle at a profit, eventually saw their stock soar as sales jumped.

    One money manager who rode that earlier surge then bought again earlier this year, says she’s confident Musk’s magic is still there and he can pull off the seemingly impossible again.

    “He frequently teeters on the edge of disaster,” said Nancy Tengler in a statement, “and then pulls back just in the nick of time.”

    One difference now is most other Tesla investors also believe this and have bought up the stock, leaving little room for error.

    Shares of U.S. companies in the S&P 500 index are valued at 24 times what investors expect them to earn next year. By contrast, Tesla is trading at 250 times expected profits, enough to make you believe that Musk, instead of having a very bad year is having a spectacular one.

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  • Beyond Meat shares briefly sizzle on Walmart deal and meme stock interest

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    Beyond Meat’s shares briefly sizzled Wednesday before heading back down again.

    The plant-based meat company’s shares more than doubled early Wednesday before closing at $3.58 per share, which was down 1%. Still, it was a surprising comeback for a stock that was trading at an all-time low of 50 cents per share late last week.

    Investors cheered Beyond Meat’s announcement Tuesday that it’s increasing the availability of some of its products at U.S. Walmart stores. Beyond Meat said that its chicken pieces, Korean BBQ-style steak and burger six-packs will now be easier to find in more than 2,000 Walmart stores.

    Beyond Meat also launched a direct-to-consumer website this week, which will try to build buzz by offering limited releases of new products.

    But perhaps the biggest driver of interest in Beyond Meat is Roundhill Investments, which added Beyond Meat to its Meme Stock ETF, or exchange-traded fund, on Monday. The fund consists solely of meme stocks, which are stocks that gain popularity and trading volume based on social media hype rather than a company’s financial performance.

    Investors have been sporadically turning to meme stocks throughout 2025 in an effort to find bargains amid a very pricey stock market. The stocks are often the target of “short sellers,” or investors betting against the stock.

    Beyond Meat was the darling of the plant-based meat industry when it went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2019.

    But in recent years the El Segundo, California-based company has been struggling with weak demand for its burgers, sausages, tenders and other products. Beyond Meat’s net revenue was down 15% in the first six months of this year.

    Beyond Meat’s stock price cratered last week after the company announced the expiration of lock-up restrictions on some of its 326 million shares of new stock as part of a plan to help it reduce its debt load and extend the time until its debt matures. The lock-up had prevented shareholders from selling the stock but now they were free to do so.

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  • How major US stock indexes fared Friday, 10/17/2025

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    Wall Street cruised to the finish of a winning week that began much bumpier.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.5% Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.

    The gains capped the S&P 500’s best week since August, but it was a roller-coaster ride. Indexes careened through jarring swings as worries built about the financial health of small and midsized banks, as well as the souring U.S.-China trade relationship. Bank stocks steadied themselves on Friday, while President Donald Trump eased some of the trade concerns after saying very high tariffs on China are not sustainable.

    On Friday:

    The S&P 500 rose 34.94 points, or 0.5%, to 6,664.01.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 238.37 points, or 0.5%, to 46,190.61.

    The Nasdaq composite rose 117.44 points, or 0.5%, to 22,679.97.

    The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 14.84 points, or 0.6%, to 2,452.17.

    For the week:

    The S&P 500 is up 111.50 points, or 1.7%.

    The Dow is up 711.01 points, or 1.6%.

    The Nasdaq is up 475.54 points, or 2.1%.

    The Russell 2000 is up 57.58 points, or 2.4%.

    For the year:

    The S&P 500 is up 782.38 points, or 13.3%.

    The Dow is up 3,646.39 points, or 8.6%.

    The Nasdaq is up 3,369.18 points, or 17.4%.

    The Russell 2000 is up 222.01 points, or 10%.

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