Dow notches record-high close while Amazon weighs on Nasdaq

Wall Street’s main indexes were mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow notching a record-high close and the Nasdaq losing ground as investors rotated out of pricey technology stocks while focusing on a likely end to a historic US government shutdown.

The House of Representatives was set to end the longest government shutdown in US history, with a vote on a stopgap funding package to restart disrupted food assistance, pay hundreds of thousands of federal workers, and revive a hobbled air traffic control system.

Still, President Donald Trump will have to sign the compromise into law.

“That should be positive from a sentiment standpoint, removing one of the key risks that’s out there. As well, the proper functioning of the federal government and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and airline system is important to the operation of the real economy,” said Bill Northey, senior investment director at US Bank Wealth Management, in Billings, Montana.

Gains of about 3.5% each in Goldman Sachs and UnitedHealth Group lifted the Dow to a record-high close for a second straight day. The index is up about 13% in 2025, lagging a nearly 17% rise in the S&P 500.

Some of Wall Street’s tech-related heavyweights lost ground. Amazon and Tesla fell about 2% each, Palantir lost 3.6% and Oracle declined 3.9%.

AMD rallied 9% after the chip designer unveiled a USD 100 billion data-center revenue target.

“We have seen somewhat of a rotation away from Nasdaq-heavy leadership toward other areas of the market doing pretty well, like healthcare and financials,” said Matt Stucky, chief equity portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual.

“A critical component for seeing markets broaden out is having earnings broaden out as well.”

SoftBank Group’s USD 5.8 billion sale of its Nvidia stake jolted stock markets on Tuesday, stoking fears that the frenzy around artificial intelligence may have peaked, especially after recent warnings from Wall Street bank chiefs and a famed short seller. Nvidia’s quarterly report next Wednesday will be a key test of investor sentiment around AI.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.06% to end the session at 6,850.92 points.

The Nasdaq declined 0.26% to 23,406.46 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.68% to 48,254.82 points.

Six of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by healthcare, up 1.36%, followed by a 0.9% gain in financials.

Volume on US exchanges was light, with 17.2 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 20.5 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.

SHUTDOWN WEIGHS ON ECONOMY

The government shutdown has weighed on the economy and created a data gap for both the Federal Reserve and traders, leaving them reliant on private economic indicators.

Tuesday’s weekly update of ADP’s preliminary payroll figures showed private employers shedding an average of 11,250 jobs a week for the four weeks ended October 25, pointing to continued weakness in the labor market.

Traders are pricing in a 65% probability of a quarter-point reduction at December’s monetary policy meeting, CME Group’s FedWatch tool showed.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said he would retire when his term ends in February, amid concerns of a push by Trump for more influence over the Fed.

Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.5-to-one ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 36 new highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 102 new highs and 103 new lows.

(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru, and by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Maju Samuel and Rod Nickel)