US Stock Market Close: Major Indices Mixed, Chinese ADRs Generally Rise, Alibaba Up Nearly 4%

On Wednesday, Eastern Time, the three major indices closed mixed, with the Dow ending slightly lower, snapping a four-day winning streak, while the S&P 500 eked out a 0.01% gain and the Nasdaq rose slightly.

(Minute-by-minute charts of the three major indices, source: TradingView)

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.22% to 42,427.74; the S&P 500 rose 0.01% to 5,970.81; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.32% to 19,460.49.

Data released on Wednesday showed that US service sector activity unexpectedly contracted in May, with the ISM Services PMI at 49.9, below the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction. ADP employment added just 37,000 jobs in May, the slowest pace in over two years.

Following the data release, US President Donald Trump immediately criticized Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and urged him to cut interest rates.

Despite the volatility in ADP data and the lingering uncertainty over tariffs, Mike Dickson, Head of Research and Head of Quantitative Strategies at Horizon Investments, said the overall situation may not be as bad as feared.

"The ADP report has historically been very volatile, so we may need to wait until Friday to truly understand the state of the labour market," he said. "Recent inflation data has been fairly mild, moving in a healthy direction."

May non-farm payrolls data is scheduled for release on Friday, with economists currently expecting an increase of 125,000 jobs in May.

However, Dickson believes the market will remain in sideways movement in the short term, entering a relatively quiet phase for market drivers that could last until next month.

The 10-year US Treasury yield closed at 4.364% on Wednesday, recording its largest one-day drop since April 14.

The US stock market has shown strong performance recently, with the continued rally in tech stocks temporarily overshadowing concerns about tariffs or an economic slowdown. As the Trump administration's tariff policies remain erratic, traders are increasingly inclined to view high tariffs as primarily a negotiating tool for the White House.

Performance of Popular Stocks

Most major tech stocks rose, with Apple down 0.22%, Microsoft up 0.19%, Nvidia up 0.50%, Google up 1.65%, Amazon up 0.74%, Meta up 3.16%, and Tesla down 3.55%.

Popular Chinese ADRs generally rose, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index up 2.04%. Alibaba rose 3.90%, JD.com rose 2.84%, Pinduoduo rose 1.34%, NIO rose 6.23%, XPeng Motors rose 3.77%, Li Auto fell 0.17%, Bilibili rose 1.50%, Baidu rose 1.36%, NetEase rose 0.92%, and Tencent Music rose 1.84%.

Company News

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A federal appeals court in San Francisco made this ruling on Wednesday, marking the latest setback for the iPhone maker in its long-running battle with Epic Games Inc., the developer of "Fortnite," over dominance in the smartphone software market and its App Store.

During the appeal, Apple had requested a stay of the judge's April ruling, which required Apple to comply with an injunction issued by the judge in 2021 after finding Apple guilty of anticompetitive behavior in violation of California law.

[OpenAI's Paid Enterprise Users Surpass 3 Million, Expected Revenue This Year to Reach $12.7 Billion]

Artificial intelligence startup OpenAI announced on Wednesday that its paid enterprise users have surpassed 3 million, showing explosive growth from the 2 million reported in February, along with some product updates and upgrades.

According to OpenAI, these 3 million users include clients of ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Team, and ChatGPT Edu.

Brad Lightcap, Chief Operating Officer of OpenAI, stated, "There is a very close connection between the growth of ChatGPT as a consumer tool and its applications in the enterprise and business sectors." As of February this year, ChatGPT had 400 million weekly active users, a 33% increase from the 300 million users in December last year.

A source confirmed that OpenAI expects revenue of $12.7 billion this year. In September last year, the company projected annual revenue of $3.7 billion and losses of $5 billion.

[US EV Company Lucid Signs Graphite Contracts in a Row, Secures Mines to Build Local Supply Chain]

On Wednesday (June 4) local time, US electric vehicle company Lucid announced on its official website that it had reached a multi-year supply agreement with Graphite One to source natural graphite from within the US.

According to the agreement, Graphite One is expected to commence production in 2028, supplying natural graphite to Lucid and its battery suppliers. The press release mentioned that Graphite One's natural graphite comes from the Graphite Creek deposit north of Nome, Alaska, in the US.

This agreement builds on the contract signed by both parties in 2024, under which Graphite One has committed to supplying Lucid with artificial graphite for future car models from its proposed anode active material (AAM) factory in Warren, Ohio.

[Amazon to Invest $10 Billion in AI Innovation in North Carolina]

On June 4, Amazon announced plans to invest $10 billion in North Carolina, US, to expand its cloud computing infrastructure and advance AI innovation, which is expected to create 500 new high-skilled jobs.

[Circle's US Stock IPO Pricing May Be Higher Than Market Pricing Range]

It is reported that the pricing of stablecoin giant Circle's initial public offering (IPO) may be higher than the market pricing range. It is said that Circle's IPO was oversubscribed by more than 25 times.