By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks are rising on Thursday, but a drop for Oracle is holding Wall Street back as investors question whether its big spending on artificial-intelligence technology will pay off.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4% in early trading and pulled a bit further from its all-time high, which was set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 233 points, or 0.5%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% lower.

Oracle was one of the heaviest weights on the market and sank 14.5% even though it reported a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its 14% growth in revenue came up just short of expectations.

Doubts also remain about whether all the spending that Oracle is doing on AI tec

See Full Page