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Stock market today: Wall Street coasts to the finish line of another winning week

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Stock market today: Wall Street coasts to the finish line of another winning week
News

News

Stock market today: Wall Street coasts to the finish line of another winning week

2024-05-11 04:19 Last Updated At:04:20

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks coasted to the close of another winning week on Friday.

The S&P 500 rose 8.60 points, or 0.2%, to 5,222.68 to finish a third straight winning week following its mostly miserable April. It had been on pace for a bigger gain in the morning, but that mostly disappeared following a discouraging report on U.S. consumer sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 125.08 points, or 0.3%, to 39,512.84, and the Nasdaq composite edged down by 5.40, or less than 0.1%, to 16,340.87.

The S&P 500 has climbed back within 0.6% of its record on revived hopes that the Federal Reserve may deliver cuts to interest rates this year. A flood of stronger-than-expected reports on profits from big U.S. companies has also helped support the market.

Gen Digital jumped 15.3% after reporting better profit for the first three months of 2024 than analysts expected. The cyber safety company, whose brands include Norton and LifeLock, also authorized a program to buy back up to $3 billion of its stock. It joined a lengthening list of companies announcing big such programs, which helps goose per-share earnings for investors.

Novavax nearly doubled and shot 98.7% higher after announcing a deal with Sanofi that could be worth more than $1.2 billion. The agreement includes a license to co-commercialize Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine worldwide, with some exceptions. Novavax also reported a slightly smaller loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

They helped offset a drop of 11% for Akamai Technologies, which topped expectations for profit but fell short for revenue. The cloud-computing, security and content delivery company also gave some financial forecasts for the upcoming year that fell short of analysts' expectations.

It said the strengthening of the U.S. dollar’s value against other currencies is slicing into its business, along with slowing traffic growth across the industry. That helped overshadow its own announcement of a program to buy back up to $2 billion of its stock.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose following the discouraging preliminary report from the University of Michigan.

It suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is weakening by much more than economists expected, and the drop was large enough to be “statistically significant and brings sentiment to its lowest reading in about six months,” according to Joanne Hsu, director of the survey of consumers.

Potentially even more discouraging is that U.S. consumers were forecasting inflation of 3.5% in the upcoming year, up from their forecast of 3.2% a month earlier. If such expectations spiral higher, the fear is that it could lead to a vicious cycle that worsens inflation.

It highlights how some companies have recently been describing increasing struggles among their customers, particularly their lower-income ones.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.50% from 4.46% late Thursday. But the movement was still relatively modest compared with its drop from 4.70% late last month.

Markets may remain on hold until Wednesday’s highly anticipated update on U.S. inflation at the consumer level, according to rates strategists at Bank of America. Traders are still largely penciling in one or two cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve this year, according to data from CME Group.

“Right now, the market is in a good mood thanks to a decent earnings season and a Fed that has a high bar to hiking,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “That mood can change quickly.”

Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell helped pull yields lower after saying the central bank remains closer to cutting its main interest rate than hiking it, despite a string of stubbornly high readings on inflation this year. The Fed has been keeping its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades in hopes of getting high inflation fully under control.

A cooler-than-expected jobs report at the end of last week, meanwhile, suggested the U.S. economy could pull off the tricky balancing act of staying solid enough to avoid a bad recession but not so strong that it worsens inflation.

In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6% after the government reported the U.K. economy bounced back to growth at the start of the year. The performance was better than expected, and it snapped two straight quarters where the economy shrank.

In Japan, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% after a report showed strong auto exports whittled down the nation’s trade deficit and it racked up solid returns on overseas investments.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

FILE - American flags hang from the front the New York Stock Exchange, right, on April 11, 2024 in New York. Global shares are trading higher on Friday, May 10, 2024, after a rally on Wall Street that pulled the S&P 500 back within 1% of its record. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

FILE - American flags hang from the front the New York Stock Exchange, right, on April 11, 2024 in New York. Global shares are trading higher on Friday, May 10, 2024, after a rally on Wall Street that pulled the S&P 500 back within 1% of its record. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

Currency traders pass by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders pass by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader works near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader works near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

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Can pink noise enhance sleep and memory? Early research drives a color noise buzz

2024-05-20 22:48 Last Updated At:22:51

You may have heard of white noise used to mask background sounds. Now, it has colorful competition.

There’s a growing buzz around pink noise, brown noise, green noise — a rainbow of soothing sounds — and their theoretical effects on sleep, concentration and the relaxation response.

The science is new with only a few small studies behind it, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of people from listening to hours of these noises on YouTube and on meditation apps that provide a palette of color noises with paid subscriptions.

WHAT IS PINK NOISE?

To understand pink noise, start with white, the most familiar of the color noises.

White noise is similar to static on a radio or TV. Sound engineers define it as having equal volume across all the frequencies audible to the human ear. It gets its name from white light, which contains all the visible color wavelengths.

But the high frequencies of white noise can sound harsh. Pink noise turns down the volume on those higher frequencies, so it sounds lower in pitch and more like the natural sound of rain or the ocean.

Brown noise sounds even lower in pitch, giving it a pleasing, soothing rumble.

Pink and brown, like white, have standard definitions to audio experts. Other color noises are more recent creations with very flexible definitions.

WHAT’S THE SCIENCE BEHIND COLOR NOISES?

White noise and pink noise may provide small benefits for people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to a recent review of limited ADHD studies. In theory, it wakes up the brain, said ADHD researcher and co-author Joel Nigg of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

"The noise provides stimulation to the brain without providing information, and so it doesn’t distract,” Nigg said.

White noise has been used to treat ringing or buzzing in the ear, called tinnitus.

Scientists at Northwestern University are studying how short pulses of pink noise can enhance the slow brain waves of deep sleep. In small studies, these pink-noise pulses have shown promise in improving memory and the relaxation response.

Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Dr. Roneil Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

If Northwestern’s research pans out, it could lead to a medical device to improve sleep or memory through personalized pulses of pink noise. But many scientific questions remain unanswered, Malkani said. “There’s still a lot of work we have to do.”

IS THERE ANY HARM IN TRYING COLOR NOISES?

If color noises feel calming and help you drown out distractions, it makes sense to use them. Keep them at a quiet level, of course, to prevent hearing loss and take "plenty of breaks for the ears to rest,” Nigg said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Dr. Roneil Malkani demonstrates the set up for a sleep study at the Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago on May 16, 2024. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

Dr. Roneil Malkani demonstrates the set up for a sleep study at the Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago on May 16, 2024. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

Dr. Roneil Malkani points to a recording of pink noise being played at brief intervals to enhance slow brain waves during deep sleep at the Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago on May 16, 2024. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

Dr. Roneil Malkani points to a recording of pink noise being played at brief intervals to enhance slow brain waves during deep sleep at the Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago on May 16, 2024. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

Dr. Roneil Malkani shows an example of pink noise being used to enhance slow brainwaves during deep sleep at the Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago on May 16, 2024. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

Dr. Roneil Malkani shows an example of pink noise being used to enhance slow brainwaves during deep sleep at the Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago on May 16, 2024. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

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