Stock market today: Wall Street inches higher to set more records

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks tiptoed to more records amid a mixed Tuesday of trading, tacking a touch more onto what’s already been a stellar year so far.

The S&P 500 edged up by 2 points, or less than 0.1%, to set an all-time high for the 55th time this year. It’s climbed in 10 of the last 11 days and is on track for one of its best years since the turn of the millennium.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 76 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.4% to its own record set a day earlier.

AT&T rose 4.6% after it boosted its profit forecast for the year. It also announced a $10 billion plan to send cash to its investors by buying back its own stock, while saying it expects to authorize another $10 billion of repurchases in 2027.

On the losing end of Wall Street was U.S. Steel, which fell 8%. President-elect Donald Trump reiterated on social media that he would not let Japan’s Nippon Steel take over the iconic Pennsylvania steelmaker.

Nippon Steel announced plans last December to buy the Pittsburgh-based steel producer for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden also came out against the acquisition.

Tesla sank 1.6% after a judge in Delaware reaffirmed a previous ruling that the electric car maker must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. The judge denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 2.73 points to 6,049.88. The Dow fell 76.47 to 44,705.53, and the Nasdaq composite gained 76.96 to 19,480.91.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report showed U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of October than a month earlier. Continued strength there would raise optimism that the economy could remain out of a recession that many investors had earlier worried was inevitable.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.23% from 4.20% from late Monday.

Yields have seesawed since Election Day amid worries that Trump’s preferences for lower tax rates and bigger tariffs could spur higher inflation along with economic growth. But traders are still confident the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate again at its next meeting in two weeks. They’re betting on a nearly three-in-four chance of that, according to data from CME Group.

Lower rates can give the economy more juice, but they can also give inflation more fuel.

The key report this week that could guide the Fed’s next move will arrive on Friday. It’s the monthly jobs report, which will show how many workers U.S. employers hired and fired during November. It could be difficult to parse given how much storms and strikes distorted figures in October.

Based on trading in the options market, Friday’s jobs report appears to be the biggest potential market mover until the Fed announces its next decision on interest rates Dec. 18, according to strategists at Barclays Capital.

In financial markets abroad, the value of South Korea’s currency fell 1.1% against the U.S. dollar following a frenetic night where President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law and then later said he’d lift it after lawmakers voted to reject military rule. Stocks of Korean companies that trade in the United States also fell, including a 1.6% drop for SK Telecom.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9% to help lead global markets. Some analysts think Japanese stocks could end up benefiting from Trump’s threats to raise tariffs, including for goods coming from China.

Trade relations between the U.S. and China took another step backward after China said it is banning exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications.

The counterpunch came swiftly after the U.S. Commerce Department expanded the list of Chinese technology companies subject to export controls to include many that make equipment used to make computer chips, chipmaking tools and software. The 140 companies newly included in the so-called “entity list” are nearly all based in China.

In China, stock indexes rose 1% in Hong Kong and 0.4% in Shanghai amid unconfirmed reports that Chinese leaders would meet next week to discuss planning for the coming year. Investors are hoping it may bring fresh stimulus to help spur growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

In France, the CAC 40 rose 0.3% amid continued worries about politics in Paris, where the government is battling over the budget.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

Holiday decorations are shown in front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

FILE - Pedestrians cross Wall Street in New York's Financial District on Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

A person rides a bicycle in front of Tokyo Stock Exchange building Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of Tokyo Stock Exchange building Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by a 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, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a 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, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Israeli forces have killed two Palestinian militants who carried out a deadly attack on a bus in the West Bank earlier this month.

The Israeli military said Thursday that the two men barricaded themselves in a structure in the West Bank village of Burqin and exchanged fire with Israeli troops before they were killed overnight. The army said a soldier was moderately wounded.

The military said Mohammed Nazzal and Katiba al-Shalabi were operatives with the Islamic Jihad militant group.

The Hamas militant group released a statement claiming the two men were members of its armed wing and praising the bus attack. Hamas and the smaller and more radical Islamic Jihad are allies that sometimes carry out attacks together.

The Jan. 6 attack on the bus carrying Israelis killed three people and wounded six others.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Here's the latest:

TEL AVIV — A survivor of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack will represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Switzerland in May.

Yuval Raphael, 24, won first place in a singing contest on Israeli television that determines Israel’s entry to Eurovision, a pan-continental pop extravaganza. She won with a performance of the Swedish group ABBA’s pop hit “Dancing Queen,” which she dedicated to the victims of the attack.

Raphael survived the Nova music festival in southern Israel as Palestinian militants stormed the event, killing hundreds and taking many hostage during Hamas’ cross-border raid. She has testified in the Israeli parliament about her experience on Oct. 7. She described hiding from gunmen under piles of dead bodies for eight hours, and said “I’m going to deal with this thing for the rest of my life.”

Last year’s Eurovision was overshadowed by the war in Gaza, with large demonstrations protesting Israel’s participation. Israel’s representative, Eden Golan, who ended up taking fifth place in the competition, was kept under tight security.

BUDAPEST, Hungary - Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Thursday that Israel would not compromise on its objectives of dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, and that there were no guarantees for the success of the three-phase cease fire in the war in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking alongside his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, Hungary, Saar said Hamas leaders had declared their intent to carry out more attacks on Israel similar to the deadly raids on Oct. 7, 2023, and could therefore not be allowed to retain any military capabilities.

“They are committed to the idea of eliminating the Jewish state,” Saar said. “Israel will not accept Hamas’ rule in Gaza. As long as Hamas remains in power, there will be no peace, security or stability in the Middle East.”

“We hope that the framework for the hostage release will continue until its end, but of course I cannot guarantee that,” he continued. “We will not abandon our objectives.”

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Although the ceasefire in Gaza has brought an influx of humanitarian aid and a rare respite from Israeli bombardment, it has done little to change the miserable conditions endured by most of the 2 million people displaced by fighting.

The winter weather has compounded the hardships of those eking out an existence in tattered tents and makeshift shelters. Heavy rains were flooding tents across the territory, leaving Palestinians shivering in the cold.

At one makeshift camp in the central city of Deir al-Balah, the downpour Thursday quickly soaked through flimsy tents that seemed to float on pools of muck. Some used sandbags to keep their tents from washing away, while others tried to clear the huge puddles of mud outside their shelters. Barefoot children trod through paths that had become filthy rivers. A cacophony of coughs emanated from every corner, raising concerns about the spread of illness.

Tareq Deifallah, a displaced resident in Deir al-Balah originally from Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, said water was seeping through his tent from all sides. He said “the truce is useless” when it came to changing his living conditions.

“Before the truce we were suffering, after the truce we are suffering, from the rain and the winter,” Deifallah said.

Monira Faraj, a mother of two young girls, said rain flooded her tent and soaked through her mattress as her family was sleeping.

“We’re afraid we’re going to drown if it becomes too much,” she said.

Residents of the tent camp said they had no choice but to stay put. Even though the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that took effect Sunday allows Palestinians displaced by the fighting to return to their homes, those who set out to check on their houses in recent days said they found only ruins.

DAMASCUS, Syria — A commercial plane from Turkey landed in Damascus for the first time in 13 years on Thursday, Syrian state media said.

The Turkish Airlines plane flew from Istanbul to the Syrian capital, SANA reported, two weeks after the first international commercial flight landed, from Qatar, since former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fall.

Ankara backed opposition groups in northwestern Syria that fought against Assad and his allies during the uprising-turned-conflict and never restored ties, even when most Mideast countries did in 2023.

Now Turkey, a key ally of the new authorities under the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, has expressed its intention to invest in Syria’s economy and help its ailing electricity and energy sectors.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s ambassador to the United States says the two countries are in talks about the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as a deadline in the ceasefire with Hezbollah militants approaches. Israeli media have reported that Israel is seeking to postpone the completion of its pullout.

Michael Herzog said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio on Thursday that he believed Israel would “reach an understanding” with the Trump administration, without elaborating.

Under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that ended more than a year of fighting linked to the war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces are supposed to complete their withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Sunday.

Israeli media have reported that Israel reached an understanding with the Biden administration on staying longer but that President Donald Trump is urging it to withdraw on time.

There was no immediate comment from the United States.

Israeli officials have said Lebanese troops are not deploying fast enough in the areas Israeli troops are supposed to vacate. Under the ceasefire, the Lebanese army is to patrol a buffer zone in southern Lebanon alongside United Nations peacekeepers.

Hezbollah has threatened to resume its rocket and drone fire if Israel does not withdraw on time.

The Al Jazeera news network says the Palestinian Authority arrested one of its reporters after preventing him from covering an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank.

The Qatar-based news network reported Thursday that its reporter, Mohammed al-Atrash, was arrested from his home.

It said Palestinian security forces had earlier prevented him from reporting on a large Israeli military operation in Jenin, an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years. The Palestinian Authority launched its own crackdown on militants in the city late last year.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority.

Both Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority banned Al Jazeera last year. Israel accuses it of being a mouthpiece of Hamas over its coverage of the war in the Gaza Strip and says some of its reporters are also militants.

The pan-Arab broadcaster has rejected the allegations and accused both Israel and the Palestinian Authority of trying to silence critical coverage.

The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters. It is unpopular among Palestinians, with critics portraying it as a corrupt and authoritarian ally of Israel.

UNITED NATIONS – Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations believes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington to meet President Donald Trump “in a few weeks.”

Danny Danon told reporters Wednesday: “I’m sure he would be one of the first foreign leaders invited to the White House.”

Danon said he expects their discussions to include the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the release of hostages taken during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel.

FILE - Israeli soldiers take up positions next to the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt, in the Gaza Strip, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

Humanitarian aid trucks enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Humanitarian aid trucks enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)