Wall Street is taking a pause as U.S. stocks and even the price of gold make only modest moves near their record highs. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% in the first few minutes of trading Thursday. The index is coming off its eighth gain in the last nine days; The S&P and Nasdaq both closed at record highs Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Dow<\/a> Jones Industrial Average rose 26 points, and the Nasdaq<\/a> composite was little changed. Gold held near its latest record following its stellar run this year, while Treasury yields rose slightly in the bond market. <\/p>\n PepsiCo<\/a> shares inched up less than 1% after the snack and beverage giant reported\u00a0better-than-expected revenue<\/a>\u00a0in the third quarter despite weaker demand for its snacks and drinks in North America. PepsiCo\u2019s net income fell 11% to $2.6 billion, but adjusted for one-time items the company earned $2.29 per share, beating analysts\u2019 forecasts by 3 cents.<\/p>\n Delta Air Lines<\/a> easily topped Wall Street expectations for third quarter profit. Delta expects recent momentum to carry through the end of the year and forecast full-year profit of $6 per share, in the upper half of its previous guidance range. Delta shares rose 5.8% in premarket, lifting other major airlines\u2019 shares along with it. United rose 3.9% and American jumped 4.9%.<\/p>\n Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk<\/a>, the maker of weight-loss drug Wegovy, announced that it was acquiring San Francisco\u2019s Akero Therapeutics for $4.7 billion in cash. Shares of Akero, a clinical-stage drug developer, jumped 18% before markets opened.<\/p>\n Trading has been relatively muted recently following\u00a0the U.S. government\u2019s latest shutdown<\/a>. The closure is\u00a0delaying the release<\/a>\u00a0of several major economic reports that usually move the market. Stocks have been drifting without them or other signals to change expectations for\u00a0cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve<\/a>, one of the major reasons the stock market has been on a tear since April.<\/p>\n Oil prices fell after\u00a0Israel and Hamas agreed<\/a>\u00a0Wednesday to pause fighting in Gaza so that the remaining hostages there can be freed in the coming days in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n The acceptance of\u00a0elements of a plan put forward by the Trump administration<\/a>\u00a0represents the biggest breakthrough in months in the devastating two-year-old war and reduced risks in the volatile region.<\/p>\n U.S. benchmark crude dipped 21 cents to $62.34 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged down 18 cents to $66.07 per barrel.<\/p>\n Gold shed some of its stellar gains but was still at $4,054.50 per ounce as of Thursday morning in the U.S.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, European shares were mixed at midday while most Asian stocks rose.<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s DAX added 0.6% while France\u2019s CAC 40 gained 0.4%. Britain\u2019s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% as sentiments were weighed by banking and housing stocks.<\/p>\n Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 rose 1.8%, closing at 48,580.44. Technology giant SoftBank Group<\/a> surged over 11% after it announced a $5.4 billion deal to acquire the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng index edged down 0.3% to 26,740.37, while the Shanghai Composite index added 1.3% to 3,933.97 in its first trading session since Oct. 1.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s S&P\/ASX 200 edged up nearly 0.3% to 8,969.80 while Taiwan\u2019s Taiex pared earlier bigger gains, closing 0.9% higher.<\/p>\n