stake trade today: Wall Street finishes mixed after Tesla soars and IBM slumps

recent YORK — Wall Street drifted to a mixed complete Thursday after Tesla surged to one of the best days in its history, while IBM slumped to its worst in six months.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to shatter its first three-day losing streak since early September. It bounced between losses and gains through the day, and it was roughly evenly split between stocks rising and falling.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 140 points, or 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8%.

Tesla led the trade with a jump of 21.9% after the electric-vehicle maker reported better boost for the latest quarter than analysts expected. An optimistic CEO Elon Musk also predicted 20% to 30% sales growth next year, though its turnover for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ forecasts. It was the best day for Tesla’s stake since 2013.

UPS climbed 5.3% after likewise topping analysts’ forecasts for boost. The package-delivery corporation’s finances can propose a window into the strength of the economy because of how many different types of customers it serves, and its turnover edged history expectations.

ServiceNow, whose platform helps companies automate and connect processes, was another one of the strongest forces pushing upward the S&P 500. It rose 5.4% after delivering stronger boost and turnover than expected, driven by profit by customers to incorporate artificial-intelligence technology.

Such gains helped to offset a drop of 6.2% for IBM, which reported turnover for the latest quarter that fell just short of analysts’ expectations. It was the single biggest rationale the Dow dragged behind other indexes.

Boeing was another weight and sank 1.2% after its machinists voted to continue their strike, which has crippled aircraft production. More than 60% of union members who voted on the proposed deal rejected it, keeping them on the picket lines six weeks into their strike.

Union Pacific dropped 4.4% after the railroad reported slightly weaker boost and turnover than expected.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 12.44 points to 5,809.86. The Dow dropped 140.59 to 42,374.36, and the Nasdaq composite rose 138.83 to 18,415.49.

Stocks have broadly regressed this week after the S&P 500 and Dow both set records at the complete of last week. They’ve been hurt by rising Treasury yields in the predictable returns trade, which can make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks. Critics had already been saying beforehand that stocks looked too expensive given how much faster their prices have risen than corporate profits.

Yields have climbed as update after update has shown the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected. That’s excellent information for Wall Street, because it bolsters hopes the economy can escape from the worst worth rise in generations without the hurtful decline that many had worried was inevitable.

But it’s also forcing traders to ratchet back forecasts for how deeply the Federal safety net will cut profit rates, now that it’s just as concentrated on keeping the economy humming as getting worth rise lower. With bets diminishing on how much the Fed will ultimately cut its overnight profit rate, Treasury yields have also been given back some of their earlier declines.

A update on unemployment claims Thursday offered a mixed picture on the job trade. It said fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which can be a signal of relatively low layoffs. But it also said the total number of those collecting benefits rose to its highest level in almost three years.

Altogether, the numbers display a slowing economy, “but there is no sign of a crash in employment or a surge of layoffs in these data,” according to Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi at High Frequency Economics.

Treasury yields, which had eased overnight, pared their losses after the release of the unemployment claims update before yo-yoing. The profit on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.20% from 4.25% late Wednesday. It’s still well above its 4.08% level from late last week.

A divide preliminary update said growth in U.S. business activity may have accelerated slightly last month, as strength for companies in services industries continue to make up for weakness in manufacturing. The update from S&P Global also showed a recovery in confidence as companies anticipate greater stability and certainty after the upcoming presidential election.

A third update, meanwhile, said sales of recent homes were stronger last month than economists expected.

In stake markets abroad, indexes were modestly higher in Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.