NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Wednesday ahead of a key inflation report this week, with investors also assessing remarks from US Federal Reserve officials.
Rate-sensitive megacap growth and technology stocks, that have led the Wall Street rally this year, such as Nvidia, Apple and Tesla were down between 1.3% and 4.6%.
“We think that at this point there is some profit taking and retrenchment in the short term on the card,” said Aadil Zaman, partner at Wall Street Alliance Group.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said on Tuesday the US central bank may be at the stage where it can leave interest rates unchanged, barring any abrupt change in the direction of recent economic data.
However, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman on Monday said the combination of still-elevated inflation and continued economic growth meant further rate increases are likely.
Traders expect an 86.5% chance of no rate hike at the Fed’s next policy meeting in September, according to CME FedWatch Tool.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July, due on Thursday, is expected to show a slight year-over-year acceleration. On a month-to-month basis, consumer prices are seen increasing 0.2%, the same rate as in June.
Big banks extended losses on Wednesday, with Bank of America and Wells Fargo down 1.0% and 1.5%, respectively.
At 11:33 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 154.86 points, or 0.44%, at 35,159.63, the S&P 500 was down 27.85 points, or 0.62%, at 4,471.53, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 164.88 points, or 1.19%, at 13,719.44. Seven of the top 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, led by gains in energy stocks, that increased 1.6%, touching a near six-month high, tracking a jump in crude oil prices.
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