Stocks Take a Pause Near Record Highs

The stock market is taking a breather on Wednesday, staying close to its peak levels. After a couple of days of big gains, investors are now wondering if the recent surge will continue. The S&P 500 is just a hair away from its all-time high, while the Dow Jones is down a bit, and the Nasdaq is up slightly. Oil prices have been all over the place this week. They dropped a lot over the past two days but have now stabilized a bit. The price of U. S. crude oil is up, but it's still lower than it was before the Israel-Iran conflict started. A shaky truce between the two countries seems to be holding for now, which is giving investors some relief. Crypto stocks are on the rise again. Bitcoin's price keeps climbing, and companies like Coinbase and Robinhood are seeing gains. Meanwhile, QuantumScape had a huge jump after announcing a big step forward in solid-state battery technology. This could be a game-changer for electric vehicles, but it's still expensive and hard to make on a large scale. Not all companies are having a good day. FedEx dropped a bit even though it reported better-than-expected profits. The issue is that its forecast for the current quarter didn't meet expectations. General Mills also fell after reporting weaker revenue, even though its profits were better than predicted. The company also warned that profits might drop by a lot next year. In the bond market, Treasury yields are staying pretty steady. This shows that investors are still cautious but not too worried about big changes in the near future.