Traders wait for insurance marketplace Accelerant to begin trading during the company’s IPO at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 24, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite eked out record closes on Thursday after Alphabet’s latest quarterly results came in better than expected.
The broad market index added 0.07% to end at 6,363.35, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.18% to close at 21,057.96. Both indexes sharply curtailed their gains as the session ended. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 316.38 points, or 0.70%, to settle at 44,693.91. The 30-stock Dow was bogged down by shares of IBM slipping more than 7% after its second-quarter software revenue missed expectations.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq had scored new intraday all-time highs earlier in the session, bolstered by a 1% move higher in Alphabet shares after the Google parent posted a second-quarter earnings and revenue beat.
“Given the size and influence of big tech and [artificial intelligence], I think the Alphabet results were a nice little tailwind for a market that’s constantly asking the question of whether all the AI spend is going to have have solid [return on investment] or whether this can continue,” Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird, said to CNBC. “At least at the beginning of earnings season here, Alphabet provided a nice data point that the answer is positive.”
Along with IBM, gains were kept in check by declines in Tesla, which dipped 8% after auto revenue fell for a second straight quarter.
Investors also turned their attention to the ongoing feud between President Donald Trump and the Federal Reserve. The White House said that Trump will visit the Fed on Thursday, escalating his pressure campaign against Chairman Jerome Powell.
This is the first time in nearly two decades that an American president will make an official trip to the central bank.
The market is coming off a strong performance Wednesday, fueled by progress on trade talks, as the S&P 500 hit its 12th record close of the year and the Nasdaq Composite settled above 21,000 for the first time.
Stocks were also helped by a Financial Times report that the U.S. was inching closer to a trade deal with the European Union. Bloomberg confirmed the progress, citing diplomats briefed on the talks. This trade deal would raise tariffs to 15% on imports from the EU.
“If the administration feels emboldened to come out on Aug. 1 and raise tariffs on any country we don’t have a deal with, that’s going to be a risk-off event,” Mayfield also said. “The market is expecting this to be resolved in a way that’s not ultra anti-growth.”
