Dow, S&P 500 post record closes; Oracle drags on Nasdaq

STORY: U.S. stocks closed mixed on Thursday, with the Dow climbing more than 1.3% to end at a record high, the S&P 500 edging into the green to also notch a record high close, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq shedding a quarter of a percent.Oracle stoked fears of an AI bubble after it warned it would spend $15 billion more than expected in order to attract AI cloud-computing customers. The company's shares sank nearly 11%.Investors also continued to digest the quarter percentage point rate cut from the Federal Reserve, with Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday signaling a pause on further easing.Still, the Fed projected one rate cut in 2026 and one in 2027 as it balances signs of labor market weakness with still-elevated inflation. Nikki Lanier is CEO of Harper Slade and former senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis."I think the Fed's goalpost of 2% for inflation will remain, and policy will be made manifest to try to make that goal real. So the most recent move that we've seen from the Federal Reserve, I think, is a indicator of cautious confidence. It's not pessimistic, it's not exuberant, but the Fed is acknowledging real softening in the economy while also making it very clear that they're not going to jeopardize progress on inflation, which in my mind signals the importance of trying to ascertain that 2% goal."Other stocks on the move Thursday included Lululemon Athletica, which soared about 12% in extended trading after the company lifted its annual profit forecast and approved a $1 billion increase to its stock buyback program.Lululemon also said its CEO Calvin McDonald will step down in January after about seven years at the helm, as the retailer navigates a challenging consumer environment as well as growing competition from newer brands.And shares of Walt Disney rose nearly 2.5% after the company announced a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI. Disney will also let OpenAI use characters from Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel in its Sora AI video generator in a crucial deal that could reshape how Hollywood makes content.