Wall St posts record closing highs despite pause in AI rally

STORY: All three of Wall Street's main indexes notched record closing highs on Wednesday despite muted gains.The Dow climbed the most, adding more than a third of a percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ticked up marginally.Rising healthcare and consumer stocks boosted the Dow, while investors took a pause from the AI rally.:: ArchiveAnd bank stocks slid after JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that expenses this year for the lender could be $1 billion higher than estimated.Still, Jason Betz, private wealth advisor for Ameriprise Financial, points to financial stocks as primed for growth due in part to the benefits of AI."Where I really like the opportunity is where companies are going to be able to leverage more AI, not to cut jobs, but leverage AI to move the needle on employee productivity and push bottom line. I think financials, which have had a tough go of it, have opportunity, number one, because they are implementing more AI technologies, and number two, I think it's possible that the market is maybe sleeping on the fact that we're going to see, in all likelihood, big asset management fee revenue come in here over the coming months for these financial companies."Among other movers, shares of Zscaler tumbled more than 31% after the cloud security firm projected fourth-quarter revenue below expectations.Shares of Bath & Body Works jumped almost 10% after the retailer reported first-quarter sales and profit above expectations, while Abercrombie & Fitch advanced nearly 9% after posting a strong quarterly profit.:: Marvell TechnologyAnd shares of Marvell Technology, down 4.5% at the close, rose in extended trading after the company forecast quarterly revenue above estimates, signaling strong demand for its networking and custom silicon chips used in AI data center buildout.:: ArchiveAlso on Wednesday, Goldman Sachs raised its 2026 year-end forecast for the S&P 500 to 8,000 from 7,600, citing continued strength in corporate earnings.