Stock market today: Wall Street extends records, led by chip manufacturers. Apple faces lawsuit from US Department of Justice | National News

NEW YORK (`) — Stock prices continued their push toward record highs on Wall Street Thursday, led by big gains from chipmakers.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% in morning trading on Thursday, hitting a record high for the second straight day. Around 80% of the stocks in the index rose.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 327 points, or 0.8%, as of 11:18 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6%. Both indices have also left their record highs behind them.

Micron rose 16%, leading chipmakers higher after the company reported blowout results for its latest quarter that easily beat analysts' expectations. Chipmaker Broadcom rose 8.7% after reporting strong earnings.

On the losing side, Apple fell 3.3% after the Justice Department announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against the iPhone maker. It accuses the technology giant of having built an illegal smartphone monopoly that excludes competitors and suppresses innovation.

Some retailers slipped after disappointing financial reports. Shoe retailer Designer Brands slumped 14.8% and discount retailer Five Below fell 14.7% after its financial forecasts fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants fell 5.9% after cutting its sales forecast for the year.

Traders will be keeping a close eye on Reddit, whose shares begin trading today.

Treasury yields remained broadly stable a day after the Federal Reserve said it still expects to cut interest rates three times this year. That helped calm jitters on Wall Street, which has posted new records on expectations of interest rate cuts but has recently been concerned about unexpected inflation data.

Lower interest rates would improve conditions for economic growth and reduce investment pricing pressures. Wall Street expects the Fed to begin cutting interest rates at its June meeting.

The markets in Europe and Asia gained ground.

The Chinese government announced new measures to support its economy.

The Swiss National Bank announced a cut in its key interest rate, a surprise move that makes Switzerland the first major financial center to announce a cut in recent months. The Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged at a 16-year high and avoided signaling when it might start cutting, even though inflation has fallen sharply.

` business reporter Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.

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