Financial Markets                      11/25 09:36

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Most U.S. stocks are rising Tuesday following updates on 
the economy that kept alive hopes for a coming cut to interest rates and some 
mixed profit reports from big companies.

   The S&P 500 edged up a mere 0.1% in early trading, even though four out of 
every five stocks within the index were climbing. The Dow Jones Industrial 
Average was up 288 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the 
Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.

   The relatively modest moves masked some swings underneath the surface, 
particularly among stocks linked to the artificial-intelligence industry.

   Alphabet rose another 1.6%, continuing a strong run on excitement about its 
recently released Gemini AI model. Alibaba, meanwhile, saw its stock that 
trades in the United States bounce between gains and losses after the Chinese 
giant reported a stronger jump in revenue for the latest quarter than analysts 
expected thanks in part to the AI boom.

   Some chip companies dropped sharply following a report from the Information 
that Meta Platforms is in talks to spend billions of dollars on AI chips from 
Alphabet instead of them. Nvidia sank 4.8%, and Advanced Micro Devices dropped 
7.4%.

   Mixed profit reports also caused big swings for several retailers.

   Abercrombie & Fitch soared 20.9% after the apparel seller reported a 
stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also raised 
the bottom end of its forecast for revenue and profit over the full year.

   Koh's surged 32.4% after reporting a profit for the latest quarter, when 
analysts were expecting a loss.

   They helped work against a 3.2% drop for Dick's Sporting Goods, which 
reported a weaker profit than expected. Executive Chairman Ed Stack said the 
company is "cleaning out the garage" by clearing inventory at Foot Locker, 
which it recently bought.

   Helping to keep the overall market calm were hopes that the Federal Reserve 
will cut its main interest rate at its next meeting in December. The Fed has 
already cut interest rates twice this year in hopes of shoring up a slowing 
economy, and lower interest rates can cover up a lot of sins in financial 
markets, including prices going too high.

   A deluge of economic data on Tuesday left traders betting on a nearly 85% 
probability that the Fed will cut in December, according to data from CME 
Group. That's roughly the same as a day before and up sharply from the coin 
flip's chance seen a week ago.

   One report said that shoppers bought less at U.S. retailers in September 
than economists expected, a signal of a potential slowdown for the economy.

   A separate report said that inflation at the wholesale level was a touch 
worse in September than economists expected, but a closely tracked underlying 
trend was slightly better. That's important because lower interest rates can 
make inflation worse, and still-high inflation is one of the main reasons the 
Fed could hold off on more cuts.

   In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.01% from 
4.04% late Monday.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes rose modestly across much of Europe and 
Asia.

   ___

   AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

   ---------

   itemid:e0f5d3695f77267911406cb119115f6b