Wall Street exhales: S&P 500 and Nasdaq slip off record peaks

Stocks cooled a touch Thursday as Wall Street finally took a breather from its record run and the government shutdown kept the usual data drip on pause. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite each faded 0.3% after tagging fresh intraday highs earlier in the session, up as much as 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. The Dow lost about 180 points, or 0.4%.

It wasn’t all red. Costco popped roughly 2% after September net sales rose to $26.58 billion, up 8% year over year, with comps advancing across the US, Canada and international markets. Delta Air Lines jumped about 5% on better-than-expected earnings — $1.71 a share on $15.2 billion in revenue — and upbeat guidance that leaned on an acceleration in business travel.

The pause comes after a torrid stretch. The S&P has logged wins in eight of the past nine sessions, while the Nasdaq just closed above 23,000 for the first time. The Dow lagged, but Nvidia helped cap losses there with a more than 2% climb after CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC computing demand has “gone up substantially” this year.

The macro backdrop stayed murky because the shutdown sidelined the day’s economic releases. Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke to a community-bank conference but steered clear of monetary policy. New York Fed chief John Williams signaled he supports lower rates later this year, echoing the broader market’s bet that cuts are still coming even as officials keep a wary eye on inflation and a cooling labor market.

Commodities took their cue from the risk reset. Gold, which has rocketed past $4,000 an ounce this year on geopolitical jitters and rate-cut hopes, eased but held above the milestone, while silver pushed a fresh record as tight supply met haven demand. Strategists cautioned that even with central-bank buying and fiscal angst in the driver’s seat, firmer real yields or a stronger dollar could spark tactical pullbacks.

Policy intrigue added its own twist. BlackRock’s Rick Rieder reportedly impressed in his interview for Fed chair as the Treasury Department wraps meetings with a slate of candidates to potentially replace Jerome Powell. And in a reminder of how geopolitics bleeds into markets, rare-earth and critical-minerals names rallied after China tightened export rules, stoking speculation Washington will fast-track a domestic supply chain.

Corporate tape bombs kept things lively. Oracle drew a fresh “buy” initiation on the idea it’s set to ride the AI infrastructure wave; Akero Therapeutics surged after Novo Nordisk agreed to acquire it in a deal that could top $5.2 billion contingent on approval of its MASH therapy; PepsiCo edged higher after topping Street profit and revenue estimates as its North American beverages business perked up.

Under the surface, a few flash points reminded investors that gravity still works. Tesla slipped after regulators opened a preliminary probe into its “Full Self-Driving” system. Elsewhere, global headlines tugged on individual names — Ferrari slumped in Europe after trimming its EV roadmap — while Japan’s Nikkei rallied, helped by a big pop in SoftBank following its $5.4 billion move to buy ABB’s robotics unit.

With the shutdown delaying the usual Thursday unemployment claims and earnings season about to kick off in earnest next week, traders are leaning even more on company results to gauge whether margins and demand can justify valuations at all-time highs. As Hennion & Walsh’s Kevin Mahn put it, optimism is fine, but a bout of volatility would hardly be a shock — and when it arrives, sidelined cash tends to find a way back in.

With input from CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, AP, and Bloomberg.