Stock Market Today: Dow snaps two-day win streak after brief foray above 40K level

Investing.com-- The Dow snapped a two-day winning streak Thursday after briefly topping 40,000 for the first ever as investors weighed up a rebound in Treasury yields and a rally in Walmart.

At 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38 points, or 0.1%, and had earlier jumped to an all-time high of 40,051.05. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, and the NASDAQ Composite closed 0.3% lower, with both indexes notching record highs intraday.

Walmart, Canada Goose shine on earnings stage

Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), a major dow component, jumped 7% after lifting its guidance following fiscal Q1 results that beat Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Canada Goose Holdings Inc (NYSE:GOOS) surged more than 15% after the apparel maker reported better-than-expected fiscal Q4 results, and talked up the prospect of annual margin improvement.

Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), meanwhile, fell more than 2% as its cut to annual earnings guidance overshadowed an upgrade to revenue guidance and quarterly results that beat on both the top and bottom lines.

Following Cisco's two deep prior cuts to the FY24 outlook, UBS said it had had believed EPS estimates "had been sufficiently reset lower to reflect the challenging demand backdrop." "We were wrong," it added.

Rate cut expectations continue, but Treasury yields rebound

Bets on a September rate cut continued to provide support to stocks as Wednesday's softer-than-expected consumer price index data was followed up by data pointing to a cooling the labor market.

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell to 222,000 in week ended on May 11, down from an upwardly revised total of 232,000 in the previous week. Economists had called for a reading of 219,000.

Treasury yields, however, rebounded from a slump a day earlier as Fed speakers remain cautious and stress the need to monitor further incoming data for signs that inflation is on a sustainable path lower.

"I now believe that it will take longer to reach our 2% goal than I previously thought," Mester said, adding that further monitoring of incoming data will be needed.

Chubb hits record high as Buffett takes stake; Meta slips on EU probe

Elsewhere, Chubb (NYSE:CB) stock rose nearly 5%, to a record high, after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) revealed it had taken a $6.72 billion stake in the insurer.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) stock fell nearly 2% after the European Commission launched a investigation into the Facebook parent over alleged breaches of the bloc’s strict online content law to do with child safety risks.

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

This article first appeared in Investing.com