Wall Street's momentum cools after its latest record-setting day (2024)

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks held steady June 6 as Wall Street's momentum cooled following its latest record-setting day.

The S&P 500 barely budged Thursday, after leaping to set an all-time high for the 25th time this year in the prior trading session. The broad-based index dipped by less than 0.1 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1 percent.

Big Lots tumbled 18.2 percent after reporting a larger loss for the latest quarter than expected. The retailer said it missed targets for sales because its customers are continuing to pull back on their spending, particularly for items that aren't essentials.

Another retailer, Five Below, gave more discouraging comments about how its shoppers are doing. Its profit and revenue last quarter fell short of expectations, and CEO Joel Anderson said struggles for the company's core lower-income customers dragged on results, even as it saw strong growth from its higher-income customers. Shares of Five Below fell 10.6 percent.

Many retailers and other companies have been highlighting a split between their lower- and higher-income customers. Inflation is particularly hurting those at the lower end, who are struggling to keep up with a cost of living that's still rising, even if inflation is not as fast as before. That threatens to crack a linchpin that's kept the U.S. economy out of a recession despite high interest rates: strong spending by U.S. households.

Another factor that's helped U.S. consumer spending stay so strong has been a remarkably solid job market. A report on Thursday showed some potential softening there as well.

More U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than the week before, when economists were expecting to see a slight decline. The numbers are still low historically, but they could suggest some slowing in the labor market.

Wall Street is hoping for just such a slowdown, which would likely drive inflation lower and convince the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. The danger is if the slowdown for the economy overshoots and turns into a recession, which would ultimately hurt stock prices.

In a potentially discouraging signal for markets, a separate report Thursday said the productivity of U.S. workers wasn't quite as strong in the first three months of the year as economists thought. That's key because strong productivity gains could allow wages for U.S. workers to keep rising without adding as much upward pressure on inflation.

After the economic reports, Treasury yields held relatively steady.

On the winning side of Wall Street, Lululemon Athletica climbed 4.8 percent after reporting better profit for the latest quarter than expected, in large part because of strong growth in sales outside the Americas.

J.M. Smucker rose 4. percent after the company behind Uncrustables and Jif peanut butter likewise topped profit expectations.

Robinhood Markets rose 6.4 percent after saying it agreed to buy Bitstamp, a cryptocurrency exchange. The deal, which still needs regulatory approvals, is expected to bring in customers from around the world, including the European Union and Asia.

GameStop soared 47.5 percent in the latest whipsaw move for the video-game retailer's stock. It's been particularly volatile since a central character from its initial supernova run in 2021 recently returned to social media after a yearslong hiatus. The online hero, who goes by Roaring Kitty among other nicknames, is scheduled to return to YouTube for a live stream on Friday.

Nvidia, meanwhile, reversed an early gain and slipped 1.1 percent a day after becoming the third company to see its total value top $3 trillion. The chip company has been riding a tidal wave of enthusiasm for artificial-intelligence technology.

Trading could be more exciting on Friday, when the U.S. government offers the latest monthly update on the job market. Economists expect it to show slight accelerations in hiring and average hourly wage gains from the month before.

"Policymakers have reasons to start feeling cautiously optimistic on the labor market front as wage growth is returning to a sustainable range while labor turnover is softening," according to Roger Aliaga-Diaz, Vanguard's chief Americas economist.

As of now, virtually no one expects the Federal Reserve to make any move on interest rates at its meeting next week. But the hope is still for the Fed to cut its main interest rate at least once this year, down from its highest level in more than two decades.

The European Central Bank on Thursday became the latest in the world to cut its own interest rates after determining inflation there had eased enough.