Wall Street wavers following two weeks of gains
Business
Wall Street wavers following two weeks of gains
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks wavered on Wall Street Tuesday as traders return from a long holiday weekend to face a relatively quiet week.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%. The index is coming off its second weekly gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 43 points, or 0.1%, to 34,792 as of 11:22 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq rose 0.1%.
Markets in the U.S. were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
There was little corporate news for investors to focus on. Technology stocks gained ground. Microsoft rose 1.6%.
Industrial stocks fell and offset gains elsewhere in the market. Union Pacific slipped 1.9%.
Energy stocks gained ground along with rising crude oil prices after Saudi Arabia and Russia said they will extend their voluntary production cut of 1 million barrels of oil a day through the end of the year. U.S. crude oil prices rose 1.8% and Chevron rose 1%.
Markets in Europe and Asia were mixed. Hong Kong’s benchmark fell 2.1%, as investors sold real estate shares which have gained recently following government efforts to support the ailing industry.
Investors have a few economic reports to look forward to this week and the latest round of corporate earnings is essentially finished.
The Institute for Supply Management releases its latest report on the U.S. services sector Wednesday. The services sector employs most Americans and is a big component of the economy. Its health could provide more insight into how inflation is affecting consumer spending.
Wall Street will also get updates on aspects of the manufacturing sector and consumer credit. DocuSign, GameStop, Dave & Buster’s and Kroger are set to report their most recent quarterly financial results this week.
Last week, investors were busy reviewing a heavy load of economic data as they try to get a better picture of the economy. Much of the information fueled hopes that the Federal Reserve might moderate interest rate increases to tamp down inflation, which has been easing for months.
Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.26% from 4.18% late Friday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which tracks expectations for the Fed, rose to 4.93% from 4.88%.
Wall Street expects the Fed to hold its benchmark interest rate steady at its next meeting later in September, just as it did at its previous meeting. Investors are mostly betting that the central bank will maintain that pause through the rest of the year.
The central bank has raised its main interest rate aggressively since 2022 to the highest level since 2001. The goal has been to rein inflation back to the Fed’s target of 2%. Several measures of inflation have gotten closer to that target and the economy is still growing. That has alleviated concerns about the aggressive rate hikes pushing the economy into a recession.
Analysts are still concerned about the potential for a recession, but those concerns have lessened as inflation cools and the economy remains resilient.
