[Christian Harris]

Major US stock indexes ended the day on Thursday with a mixed bag of results, following a session that saw them touch new highs. The S&P 500 dipped slightly by 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq retreated more significantly, pulling back 0.8% from its record peak.

This pullback can be attributed to investors taking profits, particularly in large-cap technology stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, stood out from the crowd. It defied the downward trend and gained a solid 300 points, fuelled by strong performances from e-commerce giant Amazon (up 1.8%) and cloud computing leader Salesforce (up 4.3%).

Chipmaker Nvidia, which enjoyed a brief reign as the world’s most valuable company by market capitalisation, saw its gains evaporate and closed down 3.5%. This drop pushed Nvidia below Microsoft in terms of market value. Both Microsoft and Apple also experienced minor declines, closing down 0.1% and 2.1% respectively.

A sense of cautious optimism seemed to permeate the investor landscape. While the recent surge in technology stocks, particularly those associated with Artificial Intelligence, has been impressive, some investors are choosing to lock in their profits.

Concerns are mounting about the sustainability of this momentum, especially in light of economic data hinting at a potential slowdown in the US economy. Recent indicators such as high unemployment claims and declining housing activity point towards this possibility, likely fuelled by the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate hikes.

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