Wall Street swings through another erratic day ahead of a couple of
crucial tests
[November 20, 2025] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market swung through another unsettled
day of trading on Wednesday, ahead of a couple of crucial tests for Wall
Street.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% after veering between a small loss and a leap of
1.1% earlier in the day. That broke a four-day losing streak, the
longest in nearly three months for the index, which has been shaking
because of worries that stock prices have shot too high and that the
Federal Reserve may not deliver as many cuts to interest rates as
expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 47 points, or 0.1%, and the
Nasdaq composite climbed 0.6%.
Constellation Energy led the market and rallied 5.3% after the U.S.
Department of Energy said it’s lending $1 billion to help restart
Constellation’s nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island. Lowe’s rose 4%
after the home-improvement retailer reported a stronger profit for the
summer than analysts expected.
They helped offset a 2.8% drop for Target, which reported weaker revenue
for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The retailer also hinted
that challenges may continue through the critical holiday shopping
season.
The market’s focus, though, remained on Nvidia. Wall Street’s most
influential stock climbed 2.8% as traders made their final moves ahead
of the chip company’s latest profit report, which arrived after trading
finished for the day.
So much is riding on it.
Nvidia has grown to become the largest stock on Wall Street and 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.
One way Nvidia can quiet criticism that it shot too high, which has
dragged its stock down by roughly 10% from late last month, is to keep
delivering bigger profits. That’s because stock prices tend to track
profits over the long term.
The stock market could be set up for more gains on Thursday, after
Nvidia reported a stronger profit for its latest quarter than analysts
expected. “We’ve entered the virtuous cycle of AI,” CEO Jensen Huang
said. The company's forecast for roughly $65 billion in revenue for the
current quarter also topped analysts' expectations.
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. And Alphabet, Palantir
Technologies and other AI-linked stocks have been a major reason the
U.S. stock market has set so many records this year, with the latest for
the S&P 500 coming in late October.
Worries have been rising, though, that all the investment may not
produce as much profit and productivity for the economy as hoped.
Critics are suggesting AI’s surge is similar to the bubble that
enveloped dot-com stocks, which ultimately imploded in 2000 and dragged
the S&P 500 down by nearly half.
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Specialist Glenn Carell, left, and trader Fred Demarco work on the
floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP
Photo/Richard Drew)
 Traders also made their final moves
ahead of a jobs report coming from the U.S. government on Thursday.
It will show how many jobs employers created and destroyed in
September, which earlier got delayed because of the federal
government’s shutdown. Even though the data may be stale, it could
sway Wall Street because of how closely traders are paying attention
to the job market’s strength.
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.
What the Fed does is critical for the stock market because prices
ran to records in part because of expectations for continued cuts to
rates.
Treasury yields have swung in the bond market as traders rejigger
their forecasts for what the Fed will do, and the yield on the
10-year Treasury held at 4.12%, where it was late Tuesday.
It erased an earlier dip after the release of minutes from the Fed’s
last meeting, which showed many officials suggested keeping rates
steady through 2025. The U.S. government also said it won’t release
a full jobs report for October. That could bolster some Fed
officials’ beliefs that they should wait for more data to get a
fuller picture of the economy before moving rates again.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 24.84 points to 6,642.1. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 47.03 to 46,138.77, and the Nasdaq
composite climbed 131.38 to 22,564.23.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid mostly modest
movements across Europe and Asia.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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