Stock market today: Wall Street climbs to the brink of another milestone as the S&P 500 nears 5,000 | Stock market

NEW YORK (`) — Wall Street was on the cusp of another record milestone Wednesday as Ford Motor, Chipotle Mexican Grill and other major stocks rose following their latest earnings reports.

The S&P 500 came within a fraction of a point of 5,000 before ending the day at 4,995.06. The index rose 40.83 points, or 0.8%, to hit another all-time closing high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 156.00 points, or 0.4%, to 38,677.36, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 147.65, or 0.9%, to 15,756.64.

A relatively quiet day in the bond market helped keep stock market conditions smooth, despite some concerns about investors' ability to digest a $42 billion auction of 10-year Treasuries by the U.S. government.

However, there were still some very sharp movements beneath the surface. New York Community Bancorp went from an initial gain to a sharp loss of 14% and then returned to a gain of 6.7%. It's the latest dizzying turnaround for the bank, which is still down more than half since investors across the industry were rocked with a surprise loss last week.

The bank is grappling with challenges related to its acquisition of Signature Bank, one of the banks that collapsed in the industry's mini-crisis last year. But New York Community Bancorp is also suffering from a problem that plagues all types of banks worldwide: weakness in commercial real estate.

Moody's downgraded the bank's credit rating to “junk” status from the lowest level of investment grade. Analysts also expressed concern about recent departures of key risk and audit managers. In response, the bank said it had increased its deposits and provided details of its cash holdings.

Shares of other regional banks were less affected by the drama, bringing back unpleasant memories of last year's banking crisis. The KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index fluctuated between losses and gains throughout the day before ending down 0.1%.

UBS analyst Brody Preston said New York Community Bancorp's recent quarterly loss and dividend cut were due to specific issues and “are not necessarily a proverbial canary in the coal mine for other banks in the industry.”

However, attention is likely to remain focused on potential bank losses related to commercial real estate, especially after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently highlighted them as a concern.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Chipotle Mexican Grill rose 7.2% after reporting higher earnings and sales than analysts expected for its latest quarter. Its restaurants sold more meals to customers than the previous year.

CVS Health rose 3.1% after also beating profit and revenue expectations in the final three months of 2023. However, the drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager also lowered their forecast for full-year results.

Ford Motor rose 6% after better-than-expected results, while Enphase Energy rose 16.9% despite falling just short of forecasts. Investors are hoping that weak demand for the solar and battery system provider is nearing its lowest point.

They helped offset a 9.7% decline for VF Corp., the company behind Vans, The North Face and other brands. It reported weaker results than analysts expected.

Snap slumped 34.6% after fourth-quarter revenue fell short of analysts' expectations. The company behind Snapchat also gave a muted forecast for 2024 after announcing Monday that it would lay off 10% of its workforce.

Wall Street also sought to offset the impact of an announcement that ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery plan to launch a sports streaming platform. Many details still need to be clarified, as well as how the agreement will impact broadcast rights prices for sports leagues. But fuboTV, a streaming service that offers sports, fell 22.7%.

On the bond market, government bond yields remained relatively stable. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.11% from 4.09% after the latest auction late Tuesday. Bonds have enjoyed a sharp rally of late as signals of a remarkably resilient economy force traders to push back their forecasts for a Federal Reserve rate cut.

While a delay in rate cuts hurts the stock market, good economic data also offers upside potential for investors. They are supposed to mean higher profits for companies. Such hopes have helped stocks extend their rapid recovery that began in October, displacing earlier hopes that a slowing inflation could mean imminent interest rate cuts.

On overseas stock markets, indices were slightly lower in Europe and mixed in Asia.

Shares rose 1.4% in Shanghai but fell 0.3% in Hong Kong after authorities this week took measures to support some of the world's worst-performing markets this year.

` business reporters Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

This story has been corrected to say that the U.S. government auctioned $42 billion in 10-year Treasury bonds on Wednesday, not $42 trillion.

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