Rising healthcare and consumer stocks lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday to a record closing high, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were steady, as investors took a pause from the AI-led rally while cautiously watching Middle East peace talks.

Fractional gains were enough to push the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq to closing record highs for the second day in a row.

Banking stocks were down as shares of JPMorgan Chase slid 2.4 percent after CEO Jamie Dimon warned that expenses this year could be US$1 billion higher than estimated.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there has been some progress in negotiations with Iran toward a deal. Yet President Donald Trump said the US and Iran still have issues to resolve and Iran's Fars News has said unresolved issues remain.

The Dow, which also hit closing highs on Friday and Thursday, was lifted by a rotation into healthcare and consumer stocks. Procter & Gamble shares rose 3.2 percent. UnitedHealth climbed 1.9 percent.

A pullback in chip stocks weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 182 points, or 0.4 percent, to 50,644, the S&P 500 gained 1 point, or 0.02 percent, to 7,520 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 18 points, or 0.1 percent, to 26,674.

"After such a large run-up in the markets, it's not surprising to me that there is a little bit of a pause," said Sean Clark, chief investment officer of Clark Capital Management Group.

"There's a lot of positives to look at right now. Even though the outperformers are really being driven by tech, AI and AI-adjacent themes, I wouldn't discount the fact that the broad market is participating as well."

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 energy index fell 1.5 percent, tracking a decline of as much as 5 percent in oil prices. Tech shares dropped after reaching an all-time high on Tuesday.

Chip stocks were down after a strong rally. Intel fell 1.4 percent and Marvell Technology dropped 4.6 percent, while Qualcomm fell 6 percent after sharp gains on Tuesday.

Chip giant Nvidia weakened by 1percent and the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index lost 1.4 percent after hitting a record high on Tuesday.

"Technology leadership remains difficult to ignore, with the sector continuing to push to new highs on both an absolute and relative basis compared to the broader market," said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial.

"That said, increasingly stretched momentum conditions and elevated positioning raise questions around the near-term durability of the advance."

Zscaler tumbled 31.5 percent after the cloud security firm projected fourth-quarter revenue below expectations.

Markets will next look toward the personal consumption expenditures index data on Thursday. The Federal Reserve's key inflation measure could provide fresh clues on the monetary policy path forward under new chair Kevin Warsh. (Reuters)



Edited by Cecil Wong