Nasdaq and bitcoin climb to record highs but Dow keeps losing ground

Shares of iPhone maker Apple, Google-parent Alphabet, electric car maker Tesla and AI-chipmaker Broadcom all rallied to new all-time highs, which helped power the tech-heavy Nasdaq to its own record peak. The Nasdaq closed up 1.24%, or 247.17 points, at a record 20,173.89.

The broad S&P 500 index ended up 0.38%, or 22.99 points, at 6,074.08 and the blue-chip Dow slipped for an eight consecutive session for its longest streak of declines since 2018. It closed down 0.25%, or 110.58 points, at 43,717.48.

All eyes are on the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, which ends on Wednesday afternoon. Although the Fed’s expected to trim its short-term, benchmark fed funds rate again by a quarter percentage point, many economists expect the central bank to signal a slower pace of rate cuts next year and revise its economic outlook.

“This could be the last cut for a while,” said Jacob Channel, senior economist at comparison site LendingTree. “Because the upcoming Trump Administration’s policies might cause a resurgence in inflation or otherwise throw the economy off balance, the Fed might choose to take a wait-and-see approach and hold rates steady at their January meeting.”