S&P 500 climbs near its high amid hope for rate cut

MARKET ROUNDUP

- BY STAN CHOE

Stocks rose near their record levels Wednesday as mixed data on the economy kept alive hopes that a cut to interest rates is coming soon.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 20.35 points, or 0.3%, to 6,849.72 and pulled within 0.6% of its all time high set in late October. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 408.44 points, or 0.9%, to 47,882.90 and the Nasdaq composite gained 40.42 points, or 0.2%, to 23,454.09.

The biggest jump in the S&P 500 came from Microchip Technology, which leaped 12.2% after saying it expects sales and profit for the final months of the year to come in at the high end of the forecasted ranges it earlier gave. Chief Executive Steve Sanghi said business is doing better than expected, and it’s reducing inventory levels.

Marvell Technology was another winner and rose 7.9% after the supplier of semiconductor products delivered a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Matt Murphy credited demand for its data center products, while also announcing a purchase of Celestial AI to bolster its artificial-intelligence infrastructure business. The deal’s price tag could top $3.25 billion.