Financial Markets                      11/19 15:26

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market swung through another unsettled day 
of trading on Wednesday, ahead of a couple of crucial tests for Wall Street.

   The S&P 500 rose 0.4% after veering between a small loss and a leap of 1.1% 
earlier in the day. That broke a four-day losing streak, the longest in nearly 
three months for the index, which has been shaking because of worries that 
stock prices have shot too high and that the Federal Reserve may not deliver as 
many cuts to interest rates as expected.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 47 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq 
composite climbed 0.6%.

   Constellation Energy led the market and rallied 5.3% after the U.S. 
Department of Energy said it's lending $1 billion to help restart 
Constellation's nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island. Lowe's rose 4% after 
the home-improvement retailer reported a stronger profit for the summer than 
analysts expected.

   They helped offset a 2.8% drop for Target, which reported weaker revenue for 
the latest quarter than analysts expected. The retailer also hinted that 
challenges may continue through the critical holiday shopping season.

   The market's focus, though, remained on Nvidia. Wall Street's most 
influential stock climbed 2.8% as traders made their final moves ahead of the 
chip company's profit report, scheduled to arrive after trading finished for 
the day.

   So much is riding on it.

   Nvidia has grown to become the largest stock on Wall Street and briefly 
topped $5 trillion in value. That means its movements have more of an effect on 
the S&P 500 than any other stock, and it can single-handedly steer the index's 
direction some days.

   One way Nvidia can quiet criticism that it shot too high, which has dragged 
its stock down by roughly 10% from late last month, is to keep delivering 
bigger profits. That's because stock prices tend to track profits over the long 
term.

   Nvidia has also become a bellwether for the broader frenzy around 
artificial-intelligence technology, because other companies are using its chips 
to ramp up their AI efforts. And Alphabet, Palantir Technologies and other 
AI-linked stocks have been a major reason the U.S. stock market has set so many 
records this year, with the latest for the S&P 500 coming in late October.

   Worries have been rising, though, that all the investment may not produce as 
much profit and productivity for the economy as hoped. Critics are suggesting 
AI's surge is similar to the bubble that enveloped dot-com stocks, which 
ultimately imploded in 2000 and dragged the S&P 500 down by nearly half.

   Traders also made their final moves ahead of a jobs report coming from the 
U.S. government on Thursday.

   It will show how many jobs employers created and destroyed in September, 
which earlier got delayed because of the federal government's shutdown. Even 
though the data may be stale, it could sway Wall Street because of how closely 
traders are paying attention to the job market's strength.

   The job market has been slowing enough this year that the Fed has already 
cut its main interest rate twice. Lower rates can give a boost to the economy 
and to prices for investments, and the expectation on Wall Street had been for 
more cuts, including at the Fed's next meeting in December.

   But some Fed officials are hinting that they should pause next month, in 
part because inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed's 2% target. Lower 
interest rates can worsen inflation.

   What the Fed does is critical for the stock market because prices ran to 
records in part because of expectations for continued cuts to rates.

   Treasury yields have swung in the bond market as traders rejigger their 
forecasts for what the Fed will do, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury held 
at 4.12%, where it was late Tuesday.

   It erased an earlier dip after the release of minutes from the Fed's last 
meeting, which showed many officials suggested keeping rates steady through 
2025. The U.S. government also said it won't release a full jobs report for 
October. That could bolster some Fed officials' beliefs that they should wait 
for more data to get a fuller picture of the economy before moving rates again.

   All told, the S&P 500 rose 24.84 points to 6,642.1. The Dow Jones Industrial 
Average added 47.03 to 46,138.77, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 131.38 to 
22,564.23.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements 
across Europe and Asia.

   ___

   AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

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