Stock market today: S&P 500, Nasdaq rise as Google surges, Dow slips after weak JOLTS jobs data

Stocks edged higher on Wednesday as Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) shares rose after the tech giant avoided a breakup over its Chrome browser.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 1%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained nearly 0.5%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lost nearly 0.1% on the heels of a downbeat day for stocks.

Alphabet shares rallied after a federal judge determined the tech giant did not have to divest its Chrome business. Apple stock surged after the iPhone maker struck a deal with Alphabet to grant Chrome preferred browser status on its devices.

Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howely reports:

On Thursday, all eyes will be on the confirmation hearing for Trump appointee Stephen Miran to be a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, replacing former Fed Governor Adriana Kugler’s seat.

And the key questions will be about Fed independence and Miran’s ability to remain impartial, which he is set to defend before the Senate Banking Committee.

From Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger:

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Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferré reports:

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Apple stock (AAPL) rose more than 3% on Wednesday afternoon to trade around $237 per share after a federal judge’s Google antitrust ruling spared a lucrative revenue stream for the iPhone maker.

Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:

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The sell-off in long-dated Treasury yields eased on Wednesday afternoon after labor market data showed there were more unemployed workers than job openings and Fed hawk Alberto Musalem warned about the possibility of a “substantial” weakening in the labor market.

The 30-year yield (^TYX) fell 6 basis points to 4.90% after briefly surpassing the key 5% threshold earlier in the day and was on track for its greatest drop in a month. The 10-year yield (^TNX) also declined by 6 basis points to 4.21%.

Concerns about tariffs, Federal Reserve independence, and government debts have lately put upward pressure on bond yields (and downward pressure on prices), with jitters spreading to longer-duration bonds in the UK and Japan.

Read more here.

Macy’s (M) stock soared 17% on Wednesday after the department store retailer raised its fiscal year outlook and posted better-than-expected quarterly results across the board.

While revenue and adjusted earnings fell, both came in higher than Wall Street had forecast. Shares in the retail giant jumped more than 12% in premarket trading after the earnings report.

Macy’s second quarter revenue fell 2.53% to $4.81 billion but topped expectations of $4.71 billion, per Bloomberg consensus data. Adjusted earnings per share declined 41% to $0.41, compared to expectations of $0.18.

Same-store sales growth was a bright spot, and its 1.9% increase marked the company’s best same-store sales growth in 12 quarters. Analysts had forecast a decline of 0.51%. At the 125 stores where Macy’s has recently invested in improving merchandise and service, same-store sales grew 1.4% overall.

Macy’s now projects revenue to be in the range of $21.15 billion to $21.45 billion, slightly higher than the previous range of $21 billion to $21.4 billion. For 2025, same-store sales are expected to decrease by between 0.5% and 1.5% year over year. The company previously expected that the lower end would be down 2%.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports:

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Job openings hit 7.18 million in July, according to the latest JOLTS report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That figure was below the 7.38 million expected by economists tracked by Bloomberg as well as the 7.36 million jobs open in June.

Meanwhile, hires — the number of people added to a company’s payroll in a given month — totaled 5.3 million, unchanged from the prior month.

The quits level, which tracks voluntary separations initiated by an employee, hit 3.21 million, above the 3.17 million but roughly in line with the previous month. Quits — a measure of workers’ flexibility to leave jobs — increased in business services but decreased in construction, transportation, warehousing, and utilities.

Layoffs totaled 1.81 million versus the 1.64 million expected, roughly unchanged from June.

The latest data added to investor confidence in a rate cut from the central bank in September. Traders were pricing in a 93.7% odds of a rate cut this month following the JOLTS report, ahead of the 91.7% earlier in the morning

US stocks mostly gained on Wednesday at the open after Google (GOOG, GOOGL) was spared the worst in an antitrust ruling, keeping its search distribution deal with Apple (AAPL) alive.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.9%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) added nearly 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which includes fewer tech stocks, fell 0.1% following a downbeat day on Tuesday.

Next up, Wall Street is looking to jobs market data slated for release at 10 a.m. ET, which will help set interest-rate expectations ahead of the crucial monthly jobs report due on Friday.

Tesla (TSLA) stock rose 1.6% ahead of the opening bell on Wednesday in a choppy week of trading for the electric vehicle maker.

Shares fell Tuesday after Tesla’s sales data from around the world highlighted the company’s challenges with rising competition and brand weakness in certain regions. Musk has seemed to pay little mind to concerns about the EV business, writing on X on Monday that “~80% of Tesla’s value will be Optimus.”

On Wednesday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff shared a photo of himself and Musk, praising the CEO. “Amazing what @elonmusk is doing to create the future. Just inspiring,” Benioff wrote.

However, as my colleague Pras Subramanian notes today, electric vehicle makers like Tesla may be in a world of pain when President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBB) ends federal EV tax credits later this month. According to one veteran analyst, sales of EVs in the US may be cut in half after the loss of the credits.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban writes in today’s Morning Brief newsletter:

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Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday following a Reuters report that OPEC+, a group of major oil-exporting countries, will consider another increase in supply when the alliance meets on Sunday.

West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures fell $1.17, or 1.8%, to trade above $64 per barrel. Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, dropped 1.6% to $67 per barrel.

OPEC+ has already raised quotas by 2.5 million barrels per day this year in order to grab market share, reversing its strategy in April.

Here’s a look at some of the top stocks trending in premarket trading:

Apple (AAPL) stock rose 3% in premarket trading on Wednesday following the ruling late Tuesday that Alphabet will continue paying Apple to use Google Search as the default in Safari and Siri.

Dollar Tree (DLTR) stock fell more than 6% on Wednesday before the bell after the discount retailer raised its annual sales and profit forecasts on Wednesday as more Americans across income categories shop for cheaper groceries, apparel, and home decor items at its stores.

Macy’s (M) stock soared premarket after raising its fiscal outlook on Wednesday and after posting better-than-expected quarterly results.

I think this is an important point on Google’s (GOOG) stock this morning from the KBW team, after the positive Chrome ruling:

Shares in Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) jumped almost 6% in premarket trading after a judge ruled it doesn’t have to sell Chrome as an antitrust remedy.

Judge Amit Mehta also allowed Google to keep control of the Android mobile operating system. But in a setback, the tech giant will have to end billion-dollar contracts that fueled its search market dominance.

The DOJ had argued that Google should divest Chrome and Android after a judgment last year that it held an illegal monopoly in search. However, Judge Mehta noted that AI bots now threaten its dominance, and that fed into his ruling.

At the same time, he stopped short of putting an end to Google’s distribution search deal with Apple (AAPL). Its payments for making Google Search a default in Safari and Siri have added up to $20 billion per year in revenue for the iPhone maker, whose shares rose almost 3% in premarket.

Reuters reports:

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Global bonds are selling off as worries around inflation, debt sales, and fiscal disarray undermine faith in what are usually seen as the safest of assets.

Treasury yields rose on Wednesday, with benchmark 30-year yields (^TYX) within a whisker of the closely watched 5% level.

Meanwhille, UK 30-year bond yields rose to 5.75%, having already hit their highest level since 1998. In Japan, yields on 20-year notes jumped to their highest in over 25 years.

Bloomberg reports:

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Bloomberg reports:

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Bloomberg reports:

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