Stocks edge back further from their all-time highs on Wall Street

NEW YORK —  Wall Street slipped a bit further from its record heights on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 fell 14.61 points, or 0.3%, to 5,203.58 for its third straight modest drop since setting an all-time high.

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 31.31 points, or 0.1%, to 39,282.33, and the Nasdaq composite fell 68.77 points, or 0.4%, to 16,315.70.

Stock indexes were modestly higher for much of the day thanks to several major tech stocks. Tesla rose 2.9% and Alphabet ticked up 0.4%. But a late-day slide by Nvidia, which ended down 2.6%, helped pull the market lower.

Several smaller companies made some of the splashiest moves. Krispy Kreme soared 39.4% after it announced a deal in which McDonald’s restaurants will sell its doughnuts across the country. It will begin later this year and hopes to be nationwide by the end of 2026.

Another food company, McCormick, climbed 10.5% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The seller of spices, hot sauces and seasonings also said its business looks strong, with sales growth for the year looking to come in at the high end of its projections.

Trump Media & Technology Group was another big mover, jumping 16.1%. It was the first day of trading for the company under its new ticker, “DJT,” which are the initials of former President Trump. The company took the place of a shell company that had been trading on the Nasdaq after the two merged.

The stock’s price has shot well beyond what several experts say is reasonable, driven by excitement about Trump’s latest run for the White House. Truth Social, the platform that’s the company’s main asset, is losing money and expects to continue to do so while competing against rivals that probably have many more users.

The overall U.S. stock market is also facing criticism that it’s become too expensive, though not as much criticism as Trump Media & Technology Group has received.

The S&P 500 has already roared 9% higher this year and is on track to close out its fifth straight winning month. Excitement is high because the U.S. economy has remained remarkably resilient despite high interest rates meant to get inflation under control. Plus, the Federal Reserve looks set to start lowering interest rates this year because inflation has cooled from its peak.

Strong buying of stock by companies themselves has also helped to support prices. Stock buybacks among corporate clients of Bank of America reached their fifth-highest level in BofA’s weekly data history, going back to 2010, according to strategist Jill Carey Hall.

But critics say a broader range of companies will need to deliver strong profit growth to justify their big moves in price. Progress on bringing inflation down has also become bumpier recently, with reports this year coming in hotter than expected.

Still, the broad expectation among traders is for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting its main interest rate in June. Some even see a slight possibility of it starting at its meeting next week.

In the bond market, Treasury yields slipped after mixed reports on the economy.

One from the U.S. government showed that orders for machinery, computers and other long-lasting manufactured goods rose in February after two months of drops.

But a later report from the Conference Board said confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly ticked down; economists had been forecasting a rise. Solid spending by U.S. consumers has been one of the linchpins keeping the economy out of a long-predicted recession.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 4.22% from 4.24% late Monday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, fell to 4.58% from 4.63%

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mostly modestly higher across much of Europe and Asia.

Choe writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.