Stock market today: Wall Street climbs closer to its record high

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks pulled closer to their records on Thursday following a couple reports on the economy that came in close to expectations.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and climbed back within 1.3% of its record set in July following a shaky summer. It remains on track for a fourth winning week in the last five.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 235 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%.

Nvidia was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500 and rose another 1.9% to bring its gain for the week to nearly 16%. The chip company’s stock has stabilized recently after falling more than 20% during the summer on worries investors had taken it too high in their frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.

It and other Big Tech stocks helped offset a 12.4% slump for Moderna after the vaccine maker said it expects to break even in 2028, pushing out its earlier prediction of 2026. The company, whose sales have cratered in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, is also reducing its 2025-2028 research and development investment by 20%.

Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market following reports on layoffs and inflation that included few surprises. The data did little to change the overriding belief in the market that the U.S. economy is slowing, along with inflation, and that the Federal Reserve will deliver a cut to interest rates next week in hopes of protecting the job market and preventing a recession.

One report said the number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits last week ticked up, though it remains low relative to history. Another said prices charged at the wholesale level were 1.7% higher in August than a year before. That’s a slowdown from July’s inflation rate, but an underlying measure that economists see as a better predictor of future trends also ticked up more than expected.

The inflation data was similar to Wednesday’s report on prices at the U.S. consumer level. It kept traders betting the Fed will deliver a traditional-sized cut of a quarter of a percentage point next week, instead of the larger half-point that some had earlier been expecting.

While lower interest rates help goose the economy and investment prices, they can also give inflation more fuel.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 3.68% from 3.66% late Wednesday. It’s steadying a bit after sliding since April on expectations for coming cuts to rates. That easing helped pull the average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. this week to its lowest level in 19 months, according to Freddie Mac.

Any cut to rates by the Fed would be the first in more than four years, as it’s been more focused on fighting inflation. Across the Atlantic, moves to protect the economy have already begun. The European Central Bank cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Thursday, the second time it’s done so to prop up economic growth.

Despite all the focus on how much the Fed will cut rates by in September, the more important factor is how much in total the Fed will ultimately cut, and how much the market has already priced in, say strategists at UBS. Many traders are forecasting total cuts of more than 2 percentage points over the next year, down from the federal funds rate’s current range of 5.25% to 5.50%, according to data from CME Group.

“Any divergence from this path - whether from resurgent inflation or recessionary risks - will likely be received poorly by the market,” according to the strategists led by Jonathan Golub.

On Wall Street, Kroger climbed 7.2% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The grocer’s revenue fell short of expectations, but it raised the floor of its forecasted range for a key revenue measure for the full year.

Alaska Air Group rose 1.2% after raising its forecast for profit in the summer quarter. The airline said an important underlying measure of revenue will likely be higher than a year earlier. Fuel costs are also likely to be lower than expected.

American Airlines gained 1% after its flight attendants voted to approve a labor contract and avert a possible strike.

All told, the S&P 500 gained 41.63 points to 5,595.76. The Dow rose 235.06 to 41,096.77, and the Nasdaq jumped 174.15 to 17,569.68.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was a standout and jumped 3.4%. It clawed back some of its sharp losses following a seven-day losing streak.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

FILE - American flags hang from the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

The American flag hangs from the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

AVIGNON, France (AP) — A 71-year-old French man admitted in court Tuesday that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious in their bed.

His wife of 50 years, who has divorced him since his arrest, also got to speak, telling the court that she feels completely betrayed.

In a trial that has gripped France and raised awareness about sexual violence in the home and beyond, Dominique Pélicot told the court that he also raped his wife, Gisèle Pélicot, and that the 50 men standing trial alongside him understood exactly what they were doing.

“Today I maintain that, along with the other men here, I am a rapist,″ Dominique Pélicot testified. “They knew everything. They can’t say otherwise.”

Pélicot’s testimony marked the most important moment yet in a trial that has shocked the world. Although he previously confessed to investigators, his court testimony will be crucial for the panel of judges to decide on the fate of his co-defendants, who range in age from 26 to 74. Many of them deny having raped Gisèle Pélicot, saying her then-husband had manipulated them or that they believed she was consenting.

Many following the case also hope his testimony might help explain why Dominique Pélicot would subject the mother of his three children to such unconscionable abuse.

Gisèle Pélicot has become a hero to many rape victims and a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France for agreeing to waive her anonymity in the case, letting the trial be public and appearing openly in front of the media. She shows up every day, passing through the courthouse security line behind men accused of raping her. As she left court during a break Tuesday, supporters brought her flowers.

After days of delay due to what his lawyers said was a kidney stone and urinary tract infection, Dominique Pélicot, seated in a wheelchair, testified that the charges against him are true. With his ex-wife looking on from the packed gallery and his voice trembling and barely audible at times, he started a long day of testimony trying to explain childhood traumas that he said scarred and molded him into the person he became.

“One is not born a pervert, one becomes a pervert,” Pélicot told the judges after recounting, sometimes in tears, being raped by a male hospital nurse at age 9 and being forced to take part in a gang rape at age 14.

Pélicot also said that for years, his father sexually abused a young girl his family had taken in, and that his brother later said their father had invited other men to do the same.

He regretted that his parents didn't let him continue his studies after he turned 14. He said that around that time, he tried to persuade his mother to leave the house with him, but “she never wanted to.”

“I don’t really want to talk about this, I am just ashamed of my father. In the end, I didn’t do any better,'' said Pélicot, who faces 20 years in prison if convicted.

After he spoke about his difficult upbringing, Gisèle Pélicot was given the opportunity to address the court.

“It is hard for me to hear this. For 50 years, I lived with a man. I couldn’t imagine even one second that he could have committed acts of rape,″ she said. “I trusted this man entirely.″

The two looked at each other, him from behind the dock’s glass window and her from the witness stand.

“I am guilty,” he told her. “I regret everything I did. I ask you for forgiveness, even if it is unpardonable.”

Asked if she wanted to respond, Gisèle Pélicot turned and left the stand.

When asked about his feelings toward his ex-wife, Dominique Pélicot said she didn't deserve what he did.

“From my youth, I remember only shocks and traumas, forgotten partly thanks to her,” he said in tears.

At that moment, Gisèle Pélicot put on her sunglasses.

Later, Dominique Pélicot said, “I was crazy about her. She replaced everything. I ruined everything.”

A supermarket security guard caught Pélicot in 2020 secretly shooting video up women’s skirts, according to court documents. During a search of his house and electronic devices, police found thousands of photos and videos of men engaging in sexual acts with Gisèle Pélicot while she appeared to be unconscious in bed.

With the recordings, police were able to track down most of the 72 suspects they were seeking, but not all.

In addition to the photos and videos of Gisèle Pélicot, investigators found photos of the Pelicots' daughter, Caroline Darian, and two daughters-in-law that were surreptitiously taken while they were in their underwear, getting undressed or taking showers, according to authorities.

While her mother has stayed remarkably calm throughout the trial, Darian walked out of the courtroom Tuesday as her father was being asked about photos of her that were found on his laptop.

″Excuse me, I’m going to vomit,″ she said angrily before rushing out. She has written a book about what happened to her family, called ″And I Stopped Calling you Daddy.″

After retiring, the Pélicots moved from the Paris region to a house in Mazan, a small town in the Provence region.

When police officers called Gisèle Pélicot in for questioning in late 2020, she initially told them her husband was “a great guy,″ according to legal documents. They then showed her some photos. She left and later divorced her husband.

Since Dominique Pélicot’s arrest, other cases have surfaced. He was fined after being caught shooting video of a women’s crotch in 2010 and required to see a psychologist. Gisèle Pélicot has said she never knew about this incident.

Under French law, the proceedings inside the courtroom cannot be filmed or photographed. Dominique Pélicot has been brought into the court through a special entrance that's inaccessible for the media, because he and some other defendants are being held in custody during the trial and can't be filmed. Defendants who are not in custody have been arriving at the courthouse wearing surgical masks or hoods to avoid having their faces filmed or photographed.

Among those hoping to secure a seat to watch the Tuesday's proceedings was Bernadette Tessonière, a 69-year-old retiree who lives a half-hour drive from Avignon, where the trial is taking place.

“How is it possible that in 50 years of communal life, one can live next to someone who hides his life so well? This is scary,” she said.

Gisele Pelicot arrives at the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. Her ex-husband admitted in court that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious. (AP Photo/Diane Jantet)

Gisele Pelicot arrives at the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. Her ex-husband admitted in court that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious. (AP Photo/Diane Jantet)

Gisele Pelicot exits the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, after her ex-husband admitted in court that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious. (AP Photo/Diane Jantet)

FILE - Police officers walk in the Avignon court house prior to the trial of Dominique Pelicot, in Avignon, southern France, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

FILE - Gisele Pelicot speaks to media as she leaves the Avignon court house, southern France, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

FILE - Gisele Pelicot, left, arrives in the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)

FILE - Gisele Pelicot, left, arrives in the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, File)