NEW YORK: The benchmark S&P 500 edged higher on Tuesday, with economy-sensitive energy and material stocks leading gains ahead of Wednesday’s inflation data that is likely to determine the US Federal Reserve’s next policy move.
Losses in megacap stocks such as Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq as US Treasury yields crept higher, while gains in industrial stocks such as Caterpillar Inc boosted the Dow.
Hopes that the Fed will soon end its aggressive monetary policy tightening campaign spurred a rebound in the S&P 500 this month after the collapse of two US mid-sized lenders sparked a selloff in March.
A strong labor market report on Friday, however, lifted bets that the US central bank will increase rates by 25 basis points in May, with money market traders pricing in a nearly 70% chance of such a move, according to CME Group’s Fedwatch tool.
At 12:03 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 136.25 points, or 0.41%, at 33,722.77, the S&P 500 was up 5.13 points, or 0.12%, at 4,114.24, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 46.54 points, or 0.39%, at 12,037.82.
Remarks later on Tuesday from voting members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee will be parsed for more clues on the central bank’s policy moves.
Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors rose, with gains in material and energy shares offsetting losses in technology stocks.
Shares of crypto-related companies such as Coinbase Global Inc, Riot Platforms Inc and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc climbed between 8% and 12% as bitcoin breached the key $30,000 level for the first time in 10 months.
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