Stock market today: Most of Wall Street rises after the Fed cuts interest rates

NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks rose Thursday, as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates again to make things easier for the economy.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to add to its surge from the day before following Donald Trump’s presidential victory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged and edged down by less than a point, while the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.5%.

The Fed’s announcement that it was easing its main interest rate caused few ripples in the market because even the precise size of it was so well anticipated by investors.

The central bank began easing rates in September and indicated more cuts were likely to come, as it focuses more on keeping the job market humming after helping get inflation nearly down to its 2% target. What’s less certain in the minds of investors now is how much Trump’s victory may upset the Fed’s plans.

Trump is pushing for tariffs and other policies that economists say could drive inflation higher, along with the economy’s growth. Traders have already begun paring forecasts for how many cuts to rates the Fed will deliver next year because of that. While lower rates can boost the economy, they can also give inflation more fuel.

For now, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, nothing is changing. “In the near term, the election will have no effects” on interest-rate policy, he said.

With any president, Powell said the Fed looks at possible policy changes and simulates how they could affect the economy. Only after looking at the overall effect of all the policies do Fed officials decide how that should shape where interest rates go. And at this point, Powell said it’s still not clear what the policies will be after Trump returns to the White House.

“We don’t guess, we don’t speculate and we don’t assume,” he said.

On Wall Street, healthcare services company McKesson helped drive the market by jumping 10.6% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Lyft revved up by 22.8% after the ride-hailing app breezed past Wall Street’s sales and profit expectations, and Ralph Lauren rose 6.6% after customers in Asia and Europe helped it deliver a bigger profit than expected.

They helped make up for bank stocks, which gave back some of their stellar gains from the day before. Other “Trump trades” that had rocketed higher after the election also lost some of their juice.

JPMorgan Chase fell 4.3%, a day after banks decisively led the market on expectations that a stronger economy and lighter regulation would mean fatter profits. It and Goldman Sachs were the biggest reasons for the Dow Jones Industrial Average's slight loss.

Smaller U.S. stocks also lagged the market, with the Russell 2000 index down 0.4%. A day before, it more than doubled the S&P 500’s gain on expectations that Trump’s America-First priorities would most benefit smaller, more domestically focused companies.

The stock that’s become most synonymous with the president-elect, Trump Media & Technology Group, fell 23%.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 44.06 points to 5,973.10. The Dow edged down by 0.59 to 43,729.34, and the Nasdaq composite gained 285.99 to 19,269.46.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.33% from 4.44% late Wednesday. It gave back a chunk of its surge from the prior day, driven by expectations that Trump’s plans for higher tariffs, lower tax rates and lighter regulation could lead to bigger economic growth, U.S. government debt and inflation.

A report on Thursday showed slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits, though the number remains relatively low. A separate report suggested U.S. workers improved their productivity during the summer, which can help keep a lid on inflation, but not by quite as much as economists expected.

In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% after the Bank of England cut its own interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3% amid worries about the potential for a revival of trade tensions under a Trump administration.

“I think everybody’s going to be worried about Trump’s tariffs because that’s one of the things in his playbook. And so we’ll have to see how things develop in the early stages of his presidency this time,” said Neil Newman, head of strategy for Astris Advisory Japan.

Stocks rallied 2% in Hong Kong and 2.6% in Shanghai rallied after the Chinese government reported exports jumped in October at the fastest pace in more than two years.

Trump has promised to slap blanket 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports, raising them still more if Beijing makes a move to invade the self-governing island of Taiwan. That would add to the burdens Beijing is facing as it struggles to revive slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

But the impact may be less drastic than feared, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a report.

“We expect shipments to stay strong in the coming months –- any drag from potential Trump tariffs may not materialize until the second half of next year,” Huang said.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

A pair of traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, in New York, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell news conference in Washington is displayed on a monitor. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A specialist works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Michael Pistillo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Christopher Lagana is reflected in one of his monitors as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the Federal Reserve rate decision, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A board above the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Edward McCarthy works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A man passes a video monitor on the side of the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

A board above the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

People pass the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

A TV camera screen shows the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Members of media stand near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader talks on the phone at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A tv cameraman films the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader walks by the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader walks by the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams says a family of Spanish tourists, including three children, died Thursday in a helicopter crash in the Hudson River that killed six people.

Adams said all of the dead have been recovered and removed from the water.

The helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed upside-down into the river between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront. It was the latest high-profile aviation disaster in the U.S., following other recent accidents in Washington and Philadelphia.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — A helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront Thursday, killing six people in the latest high-profile aviation disaster in the U.S., according to witnesses and a law enforcement official.

The New York Fire Department said it received a report of the crash at 3:17 p.m. All six people aboard were killed, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

Witness Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter “falling apart” in midair, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it fell, he said.

Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water.

“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said in a phone interview.

Video posted to social media showed parts of the chopper splashing into the water, and the overturned aircraft was submerged, with rescue boats circling it.

The skies were overcast at the time, but visibility over the river was not substantially impaired. Rescue crews had to deal with 45-degree water temperatures.

The Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell 206, a model widely used in commercial and government aviation, including by sightseeing companies, TV news stations and police departments. It was initially developed for the U.S. Army before being adapted for other uses. Thousands have been manufactured over the years.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it would investigate.

The rescue craft were near the end of a long maintenance pier for a ventilation tower serving the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side of the river. Fire trucks and other emergency vehicles were on nearby streets with their lights flashing.

The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights. Manhattan has several helipads that whisk business executives and others to destinations throughout the metropolitan area.

Over the years, there have been multiple crashes, including a collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River in 2009 that killed nine people and the 2018 crash of a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights that went down into the East River, killing five people.

A medical transport plane killed seven people when it plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood in January. That happened two days after an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter collided in midair in Washington — the deadliest U.S. air disaster in a generation.

The crashes and other close calls have left some people worried about the safety of flying.

First responders from New Jersey and New York respond to the scene where a helicopter crashed in the Hudson River, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

In this photo taken from video, a helicopter falls from the sky into the Hudson River , Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (Bruce Wall via AP)

A crane vessel arrives at the scene where a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

As seen from Pier 40 in New York, police and fire crews from New York and New Jersey respond to the scene where a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

As seen from Pier 40 in New York, police and fire crews from New York and New Jersey respond to the scene Thursday, April 10, 2025, where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

As seen from Pier 40 in New York, police and fire crews from New York and New Jersey respond to the scene Thursday, April 10, 2025, where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

First responders from New Jersey and New York respond to the scene where a helicopter crashed in the Hudson River, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

As seen from Pier 40 in New York, police and fire crews from New York and New Jersey respond to the scene Thursday, April 10, 2025, where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

First responders walk along Pier 40, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in New York, across from where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz)

A New York Fire Department Marine 1 boat departs from Pier 40, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in New York, across from where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz)

First responders walk along Pier 40, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in New York, across from where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz)