NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed at another record on Wall Street Tuesday following a surprisingly strong report on economic growth over the summer.
The U.S. government's first assessment of economic growth during the third quarter also showed that inflation remains high. A separate report showed that consumer confidence continued fading in December. All of it added to a complicated picture of the economy.
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Anthony Matesic works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Trader Jonathan Mueller works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader William Lawrence works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Walmart is displayed on the facade of the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A dealer works near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing the market indexes of Shanghai, Tokyo and New York Dow at a securities firm Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A dealer watches computer monitors at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
The latest record for the S&P 500 came even as most stocks within the benchmark index lost ground. Technology stocks, which have been the main force pushing major indexes to records all year, once again were able to counter weakness elsewhere in the market.
The S&P 500 rose 31.30 points, or 0.5%, to 6,909.79, surpassing the record set earlier in December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 79.73 points, or 0.2%, to 48,442.41. The Nasdaq composite rose 133.02 points, or 0.6%, to 23,561.84.
Nvidia jumped 3% and was the biggest force helping to push the market higher. It is among several big tech companies with outsized valuations that tend to have more impact on the broader market’s direction. Google's parent company, Alphabet, rose 1.5%.
Novo Nordisk jumped 7.3% after U.S. regulators approved a pill version of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy, the first daily oral medication to treat obesity.
Wall Street received the latest economic updates during an otherwise quiet holiday-shortened week. Markets in the U.S. will close early Wednesday for Christmas Eve and remain closed for Christmas on Thursday.
The U.S. economy grew at a 4.3% annual rate during the third quarter. That builds on 3.8% growth during the second quarter and marks a sharp turnaround from the first quarter, when the U.S. economy shrank for the first time in three years.
The latest report also showed that stubborn inflation continues to hover over the economy. The Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge — called the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE — climbed to a 2.8% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.1% in the second quarter.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.16% from 4.15% just before the report on gross domestic product for the third quarter was released. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed actions, rose to 3.53% from 3.49% just prior to the report’s release.
The Fed has been taking a more cautious policy approach amid mixed signals from the economy. Economic growth has been occurring at the same time that inflation remains stubbornly above the central bank's 2% target. The job market is also slowing, adding another layer of concern to whether the central bank should continue cutting interest rates.
On Wednesday, the Labor Department will release its weekly data on applications for jobless benefits, which stands as a proxy for U.S. layoffs.
“The Fed has been balancing off inflation risks versus weakening labor markets and today’s report further complicates their dilemma,” wrote Dominic Pappalardo, chief multi-asset strategist at Morningstar Wealth, in a note to investors.
The Fed has cut interest rates three times in 2025 and the central bank's rate-setting committee is divided about additional rate cuts in 2026. The committee members, at their last meeting, projected a wide range of possibilities from holding rates steady to two or more reductions.
Wall Street expects the Fed to hold rates steady at its upcoming meeting in January.
Consumer spending and confidence has been shaky amid worries about high prices, especially with a wide-ranging U.S. trade war that could drive prices for many goods even higher.
The latest update from business group The Conference Board showed that consumer confidence fell in December to its lowest level since tariffs were rolled out in April. Meanwhile, retail sales have been weakening, with consumers growing more cautious.
Consumers have become more targeted in their buying during the holiday shopping season, according to Visa's Consulting and Analytics division. From Nov. 1 through Sunday, cash and credit card sales rose 4.2%, which is less than the 4.8% increase during the same period a year ago.
Markets were mixed in Asia and Europe.
The price of gold continued rising. It rose 0.8% to $4,505.70 per ounce Tuesday and is up about 70% for the year.
Oil prices were relatively stable after jumping a day prior. U.S. benchmark crude rose 0.6% to $58.38 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.5% to $62.38 a barrel.
Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
Anthony Matesic works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Trader Jonathan Mueller works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader William Lawrence works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Walmart is displayed on the facade of the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A dealer works near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing the market indexes of Shanghai, Tokyo and New York Dow at a securities firm Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A dealer watches computer monitors at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired more missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab states Thursday, demonstrating Tehran’s continued ability to strike its neighbors even as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed the threat from the country was nearly eliminated.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf states along with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the world’s energy supplies with effects far beyond the Middle East. That has proved to be Iran’s greatest strategic advantage in the war. Britain held a call with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait once the fighting is over.
Trump has insisted the strait can be taken by force — but said it is not up to the U.S. to do that. In an address to the American people Wednesday night, he encouraged countries that depend on oil from Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.”
Before the U.S. and Israel started the war on Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran, the waterway was open to traffic and 20% of all traded oil passed through it.
Iran responded defiantly to Trump’s speech, in which the American president claimed U.S. military action had been so decisive that “one of the most powerful countries” is “really no longer a threat.”
A spokesman for Iran’s military, Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, insisted Thursday that Tehran maintains hidden stockpiles of arms, munitions and production facilities. He said facilities targeted so far by U.S. strikes are “insignificant.”
Just before Trump began his address — in which he said U.S. “core strategic objectives are nearing completion” — explosions were heard in Dubai as air defenses worked to intercept an Iranian missile barrage.
Less than a half-hour after the president was done, Israel said its military was also working to intercept incoming missiles. Sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, immediately after the speech.
Attacks continued across Iran on Thursday, with strikes reported in multiple cities.
Even amid the conflict, families went to a park in Tehran to play games and grill food to mark the last day of Iranian New Year, or Nowruz.
In Lebanon — home to Iran-backed Hezbollah militants who are fighting Israel, which has launched a ground invasion — an Israeli strike killed four people in the south, the Health Ministry said.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
Iranian attacks on about two dozen commercial ships, and the threat of more, have halted nearly all traffic in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.
Since March 1, traffic through the strait has dropped 94% over the same period last year, according to the Lloyds List Intelligence shipping data firm. Two ships are confirmed to have paid a fee, the firm said, while others were allowed through based on agreements with their home governments.
Saudi Arabia piped about 1 billion barrels of oil away from the Strait of Hormuz in March, according to maritime data firm Kpler, while Iraq said Thursday that it had started to truck oil across Syria to avoid the strait.
The 35 countries that spoke Thursday, including all G7 industrialized democracies except the U.S., as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signed a declaration last month demanding Iran stop blocking the strait.
Thursday’s talks were focused on political and diplomatic measures, but British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said military planners from an unspecified number of countries will also plot ways to ensure security once fighting ends, including potential mine-clearing work and “reassurance” for commercial shipping.
No country appears willing to try to open the strait by force while the war is raging. French President Emmanuel Macron, while on a visit to South Korea, called a military operation to secure the waterway “unrealistic.”
But there is a concern that Iran might limit traffic through the waterway even after U.S. and Israeli attacks cease.
The idea of an international effort has echoes of the “coalition of the willing,” led by the U.K. and France, that was assembled to underpin Ukraine’s security in the event of a ceasefire in that war. The coalition is, in part, an attempt to demonstrate to Washington that Europe is doing more for its own security in the face of frequent criticism from Trump.
The conflict is driving up prices for oil and natural gas, roiling stock markets, pushing up the cost of gasoline and threatening to make a range of goods, including food, more expensive.
On Thursday, Brent crude, the international standard, rose again and was around $108, up about 50% from Feb. 28.
Though the oil and gas that typically transits the strait is primarily sold to Asian nations, Japan and South Korea were the only two countries from the region joining Thursday's call about the strait. The supply of jet fuel has also been interrupted, with consequences for travel worldwide.
Weissert reported from Washington and Rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writer David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this story.
Mourners gather during a funeral procession for Alireza Tangsiri, head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, and others killed in Israeli strikes in late March, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People take cover in a bomb shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Members from the Popular Mobilization Forces attend a funeral of fighters who were killed in a U.S. airstrike, in Tal Afar, Nineveh province, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Members from the Popular Mobilization Forces attend a funeral of fighters who were killed in a U.S. airstrike, in Tal Afar, Nineveh province, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump walks from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
