S&P 500, Nasdaq open higher as investors weigh Google ruling, fiscal jitters

Investing.com - S&P 500 and Nasdaq opened higher on Wednesday, rebounding after a downbeat session to begin a holiday-shortened trading week, as sentiment was bolstered by an antitrust ruling against Google-parent Alphabet that included less severe penalties than those proposed by the Justice Department.

By 09:34 ET (13:34 GMT), the benchmark S&P 500 had gained 25 points, or 0.4%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had risen by 165 points, or 0.8%, and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped by 35 points, or 0.1%.

The main averages fell on Tuesday, as investors returned following the Labor Day holiday to a sell-off in longer-dated U.S. government debt, spurred on by renewed concerns over the country’s fiscal position.

Fresh uncertainty was also lingering over the trajectory of sweeping U.S. tariffs, especially in the wake of a ruling late last week from a U.S. appeals court that most of President Donald Trump’s import levies were illegal. The decision, which the Trump administration has vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court, cast doubt over the White House’s ability to use the duties as a tool in international economic policy -- and comes as a court is likely to weigh in on a separate effort by Trump to dismiss Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. While the indices finished off their lowest levels of the day, the Cboe Volatility Index -- a crucial fear measure -- ticked higher.

Alphabet, Apple shares rise on antitrust ruling 

Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose by 7% after a judge ruled that Google does not have to undergo a forced spin-off of its popular Chrome browser. The Justice Department had earlier called for Google to divest Chrome and its Android operating system as part of a long-running antitrust case against the company. 

Google will still be required to share some of its search data with rivals, and will no longer be allowed to sign exclusive contracts to promote and license its products. 

Still, the ruling was seen as less harsh than the penalties outlined by the DOJ against Google. 

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares also moved higher after the ruling allowed Google to continue paying the iPhone maker billions of dollars to set Google as the default search engine in its Safari internet browser. 

Fed to release latest "Beige Book"

The Federal Reserve is due to publish its latest "Beige Book" on Wednesday, offering one of the last snapshots of the economy before the central bank’s September policy meeting.

It will be the first such report since July, when contacts across several industries warned that they anticipate cost pressures will "remain elevated in the coming months."

This would increase the "likelihood that consumer prices will start to rise more rapidly by late summer," the report noted, adding that all of the Fed’s 12 districts have flagged the impact of Trump’s trade policy.

The Beige Book, which aims to bring together surveys and observations from commercial and community contacts at each of the Fed’s regional banks, also showed that many were worried about a possible slowdown in business. At the same time, uncertainty around the trajectory of the tariffs has led some companies to postpone major hiring and layoff decisions, the report said.

More clarity on the state of the American labor market is due out this week, including a survey of job openings later on Wednesday. This, along with private payrolls and weekly jobless claims, will serve as precursors to the all-important August employment report on Friday.

Salesforce to report

On the earnings front, software firm Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) is expected to unveil its latest returns after the close of U.S. stock markets.

The results come as worries are growing that cracks may be emerging in a longstanding artificial intelligence boom that has underpinned stocks during a time of elevated valuations and broader economic uncertainty, according to analysts at Vital Knowledge.

"[S]entiment has been cautious amid concerns about AI displacement risk, although the narrative has started to shift in the favor of enterprise software in the last couple of weeks thanks to some solid earnings reports from the industry," the analysts wrote in a note.

Gold touches record high

Gold prices added to its recent rally, hitting a new all-time peak as persistent concerns over global fiscal health and U.S. trade tariffs kept traders biased towards safe haven assets.

Spot gold had advanced by 0.5% to $3,551.10 an ounce, while gold futures for December were up 0.6% to $3,616.82/oz by 09:36 ET. Spot gold surpassed a previous record high notched earlier in the session.

(Ambar Warrick contributed reporting.)