Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Tuesday as Oracle shares slumped, while investors awaited key inflation readings later this week for clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path.
Cloud-services provider Oracle dropped 11.5% to its lowest intra-day level in a month, after forecasting current-quarter revenue below targets and narrowly missing first-quarter expectations.
Investors await August consumer prices data due on Wednesday and producer prices reading scheduled for Thursday, which will be followed by the Fed’s policy decision on Sept. 20.
A recent uptick in oil prices and strong economic data have fueled concerns over stubborn inflation, clouding the chances of an end to U.S. monetary policy tightening.
“People are a little bit worried about energy prices picking up pretty aggressively in recent weeks and that creates some concerns as we look forward to November,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.
“It seems regardless that Fed will skip in September, but the inflation data that we get between now and November is critical and the market is at the point where anymore tightening could be a bit excessive and a major headwind.”
Traders see a 91% chance of rates remaining at the current levels in September and a near 53% likelihood of a pause in November, as per the CME FedWatch Tool.
Investors will also monitor the European Central Bank’s policy decision on Thursday, where it is seen holding rates after nine consecutive hikes.
Energy stocks added 1.7%, leading gains among major S&P 500 sectors as oil prices rose 1% on tighter supply outlook.
Megacaps Amazon.com and Microsoft dropped 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively, while Apple slipped 0.4% ahead of its new iPhone 15 lineup launch amid uncertainty over market access in China and intensifying competition.
At 9:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 44.48 points, or 0.13%, at 34,619.24, the S&P 500 was down 6.78 points, or 0.15%, at 4,480.68, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 18.30 points, or 0.13%, at 13,899.59.
WestRock jumped 6.4% on agreeing to merge with Europe’s Smurfit Kappa to create the world’s largest listed paper and packaging company worth nearly $20 billion.
Paramount Global added 1.0% as a report said major shareholder National Amusements had reached a debt-restructuring deal with its lenders.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.16-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded five new 52-week highs and eight new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 16 new highs and 77 new lows.
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