NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes edged lower Wednesday after drops for Eli Lilly and chip companies overshadowed a jump for Google’s parent company.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 slipped 0.3% after drifting between small gains and losses several times, though it’s still near its all-time high set this month. The Dow Jones industrial average edged down by 0.2% while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.6% from its own record set the day before.
Alphabet climbed 2.8% after beating analysts’ forecasts for profit in the latest quarter, thanks largely to the performance of its Google business. It’s the latest of the highly influential group of stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” to top high expectations for growth. They’ll need to, because critics say their prices have climbed too quickly, even if artificial intelligence technology is creating a boom.
Computer chip companies have been some of the biggest winners of the AI…
