The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished trading with a modest increase on Thursday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices saw declines. The market initially opened in the red due to rising oil prices and increased yields on U.S. Treasury bonds. However, oil prices later dropped following a statement from President Donald Trump, who indicated that the United States would not attack Iran before the upcoming midterm elections on November 3rd.
Yields on long-term U.S. Treasuries fell after a successful auction of 30-year bonds, which demonstrated strong investor demand. Additionally, data released on Thursday revealed a slight decrease in new unemployment claims in the U.S., with the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropping by 2,000 to a total of 197,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Traders were also weighing comments from Federal Reserve Board member Christopher Waller, who indicated that the central bank may need to continue raising interest rates to combat inflation. Waller suggested that the Fed could exercise some flexibility in determining the pace of monetary policy tightening. He stated, "If incoming economic data continues to align with our expectations, further rate hikes may be necessary to expedite the return of inflation to the target level of 2%." However, he noted that rate increases do not need to occur at every meeting, but tightening should occur "in a timely manner."
Among the gainers in the Dow Jones components, Home Depot Inc. saw a rise of 3.4%, followed by Chevron Corp. at 3.1%, International Business Machines Corp. at 2.8%, and Travelers Cos. Inc. at 2.7%. Conversely, Nvidia Corp. led the decline with a drop of 2.9%. Shares of other chipmakers also fell after reports indicated that the revenue projections for AI company OpenAI were lower than previously reported by other sources. According to these reports, OpenAI's revenue is projected at around $50 billion annually, rather than the $70 billion that had been suggested by some media outlets.
This news negatively impacted Oracle Corp., which fell 5.5%, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. down 3.9%, Intel Corp. down 5.3%, and Marvell Technology Inc. down 3.5%. In contrast, PepsiCo Inc. saw its market value rise by 3.7% following strong earnings reports, with the beverage giant posting a 17.1% increase in net profit and a 5.6% rise in revenue for the third quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, surpassing market expectations.
Chipotle Mexican Grill's market capitalization increased by 6.2% after reports suggested that Starbucks Corp. was exploring a potential acquisition of the Mexican restaurant chain, valued at nearly $39 billion. However, shares of Starbucks dipped by 0.4%. Levi Strauss & Co. saw a decline of 2.4%, despite a 4% increase in revenue for the third fiscal quarter, which fell short of market expectations.
At the close of the market on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 0.1% to 51,231.64 points. In contrast, the S&P 500 dropped by 0.47% to 4,765.36 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.25% to 27,193.34 points.
This mixed performance indicates a cautious outlook for the market, with investors closely monitoring inflationary pressures and the Federal Reserve's response, which could influence the strategies of competing companies in the coming weeks.
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