Wall Street today: S&P 500, Nasdaq slid at US market open as investors eye economic data ahead of Fed meeting | Stock Market News
Source: Live Mint
Wall Street today: The US markets opened today with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq losing points on Thursday, after closing higher at the previous market close. Stock market investors are eyeing some the last economic datasets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting.
At 9:37 a.m. (ET), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.09 per cent to 44,188.62 points, the S&P 500 dropped 0.26 per cent to 6,068.64 points and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.48 per cent to 19,939.73 points on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Nasdaq crossed the 20,000 mark for the first time as the technology rally showed no signs of a slowdown, while the S&P 500 closed at its highest in nearly a week after an in-line inflation locked in a 25 basis point cut by the US Fed at its December 17-18 meeting, reported the news agency Reuters.
The U.S. producer prices rose above the November expectations amid a rise in food prices, but a moderation in the prices of services offered hope that the disinflationary trend remains in place.
“Those numbers are a little bit hotter than expectations and (are) on the heels of CPI,” Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, told the news agency.
“(The Fed) is going to (cut rates) because it wants to stay on that path and would like to have rates be lower, but there’s this risk about inflation,” said Martin.
Economic data highlighted that Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose to 2.42 lakh for the week ended December 7, above he estimates of 2.20 lakh, cited the agency.
Market traders are expecting a rate cut next week stand at over 98 per cent, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool, cited by the news agency.
The expectation bets also show that a pause is anticipated in January after several US Federal Reserve officials requested caution over the pace of the monetary policy easing as the economy remains resilient.
On the Wall Street front, the main indices have set new record highs several times this year driven by the tech index heavyweights exploiting the euphoria around artificial intelligence and the Fed’s rate cuts, as per the agency report.
The S&P 500 recorded five new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 23 new highs and 44 new lows, reported the news agency.
