Stock market today: A slide for Walmart pulls Wall Street from its record, and Dow drops 450

NEW YORK (AP) — A sharp slide for Walmart on Thursday helped pull Wall Street off of its record.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% for its first drop after setting all-time highs in each of the last two days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 450 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.5%.

Walmart drove the market lower after falling 6.5%, even though the retailer reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based giant gave a forecast for upcoming profit that fell short of analysts’ expectations as shoppers across the country deal with still-high inflation and the threat of tariffs from President Donald Trump.

Walmart is still forecasting growth in revenue for this upcoming year and said it has experience in navigating the effects of tariffs, but its profit outlook helped pull stocks lower across the retail industry. Costco fell 2.6%,Target dropped 2% and Amazon lost 1.7%.

Palantir Technologies was another weight on the market. It fell 5.2% to follow its 10.1% drop from the day before, after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he wants to cut $50 billion in spending next year. The software company got 55% of its $2.9 billion in revenue last year from government customers.

They helped offset an 8.5% jump for Baxter International, which reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It credited strength for its pharmaceuticals business, as well as for its medical products and therapies.

Burger chain Shake Shack rallied 11.1% after likewise reporting a stronger profit than expected. CEO Rob Lynch said sales trends remained solid during the quarter, even though bad weather around the country and wildfires in the Los Angeles area kept some customers away.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw its stock that trades in the United States climb 8.1% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also talked up its artificial-intelligence developments.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 26.63 points to 6,117.52. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 450.94 to 44,176.65, and the Nasdaq composite sank 93.89 to 19,962.36.

In the bond market, Treasury yields edged lower after a report showed more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. It’s an indication the pace of layoffs could be worsening, but the number still remains relatively low compared with history.

A separate report said growth for manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region is still growing, but not as strongly as economists expected.

Such numbers are likely to keep the Federal Reserve on hold when it comes to interest rates. Last month, the Fed refrained from cutting its main interest rate for the first time at a policy meeting since it began doing so in September.

While lower rates can boost the economy and prices for investments, they can also give inflation more fuel. And Fed officials were discussing at their last meeting how Trump’s proposed tariffs and mass deportations of migrants, as well as strong consumer spending, could push inflation higher this year.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.50% from 4.54% late Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for upcoming Fed moves, held steadier. It remained at 4.27%, where it was late Wednesday.

Traders have been paring back their expectations for how many cuts to interest rates the Fed may deliver this year, with some predicting zero. Many are pointing the potential effects of tariffs, but much of Wall Street is also banking on their ultimate impact being smaller than they initially seemed.

“Given the high political costs of elevated inflation, we continue to believe that the Trump administration will not want to jeopardize US economic growth or risk higher inflation through broad and sustained tariffs,” said Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer, Americas, at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Trump has already given brief, 30-day reprieves for tariffs he had announced on Mexico and Canada to give time for more negotiations.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.6% for one of the world’s larger moves after China’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, in a move it said was meant to maintain financial stability. Stocks in Shanghai edged down by less than 0.1%.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near 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, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.

Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.

“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.

"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.

FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)