NEW YORK (AP) U.S. stocks are drifting toward new record highs in quiet trading Monday, ahead of what could be a quiet, holiday-shortened week.
The S&P 500 was up 0.2% at midday and on track to close above its all-time high set Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 12 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 11:35 a.m. Eastern Time. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1% to its own record.
Autodesk jumped 4.5%, one of the biggest gains in the market, after an investment firm said it would try to delay the software maker's annual meeting so it could appoint new directors to the board of directors. Starboard Value also discussed how it believes Autodesk has not performed as well financially as it should have. In response, Autodesk said it would consider Starboard's suggestions, but added that it has a clear strategy that works.
Chip company Broadcom rose 3.4% to add to last week's gains after reporting better-than-expected profit and saying it would undergo a 10-for-one stock split to make its price more affordable. He followed Nvidia, the company that became the epitome of Wall Street's frenzy around artificial intelligence technology, and just made a similar split.
Broadcom was one of the most powerful forces pushing the S&P 500 higher, with Apple up 1.8% and Tesla up 4.5%.
They helped offset the weakness caused by rising Treasury yields in the bond market. The rise in yields erased some of the slowdown created last week when better-than-expected inflation reports raised hopes that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates later this year.
Next week, there will be few major economic reports for the United States, beyond Tuesday's update on customer spending at U.S. retailers and Friday's preliminary review of the state of commercial activity in the United States. The markets will also be closed on Wednesday for the June 16 holiday.
A report released Monday says manufacturing in New York state continues to contract, but not as much as economists had hoped. Manufacturing has been one of the areas hardest hit by the Federal Reserve's zeal to keep its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades.
The Fed is trying to keep rates high long enough to slow the economy and quell high inflation, but it wants to cut rates and reverse the momentum before the slowdown turns into a painful recession.
High interest rates hurt all types of investments and tend to hit certain areas particularly hard. Real estate stocks, for example, can struggle when high rates make conditions more difficult for the sector and turn income-seeking investors away from bonds.
S&P 500 real estate investment trusts fell 0.9%, the worst loss among the 11 sectors that make up the index. Close behind was a 0.7% decline for utilities, whose relatively large dividends also tend to attract less interest from buyers when bonds pay more interest.
On the bond market, the yield on 10-year Treasury bills rose to 4.29% from 4.22% Friday evening. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, rose less. It went from 4.71% to 4.75%.
On foreign stock markets, European indices have calmed somewhat after last week's rout. France's CAC 40 index rose 0.9% after falling last week to its worst week in two years on concerns that potential losses by the president's centrist party could lead to a sharp rise in the country's debt .
Europe's modest gains followed Asia's losses. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.8%.
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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.