NEW YORK: The benchmark S&P 500 was broadly unchanged on Wednesday, pausing after a recent rally as investors assessed the outlook for US monetary policy, while Uber’s shares dropped on a downbeat forecast.
Uber shed nearly 9%, becoming the biggest decliner on the S&P 500, after the ride-hailing platform forecast second-quarter gross bookings below expectations and posted a surprise first-quarter loss.
Tesla fell 1.5% after Reuters reported US prosecutors were examining whether the company committed securities or wire fraud by misleading investors and consumers about its electric vehicles’ self-driving capabilities.
Other megacap stocks such as Nvidia, Amazon and Alphabet slipped as the 10-year Treasury yield edged up after five days of declines.
That dampened optimism spurred by a positive earnings season and softer-than-expected labor market data that had tempered concerns about the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates higher for longer.
“We’ve had a lot of data that has come in soft, unexpectedly, and that’s fueled a bit of fire towards potentially a September rate cut,” said Alex McGrath, chief investment officer for NorthEnd Private Wealth.
“The bigger question becomes what the Fed is going do when the macro data starts to deteriorate and inflation is not back to the target. Do they stick to their guns or do they ride to the rescue and start cutting rates? That’s kind of the pickle we’re looking at going into the summer months.” With the earnings season nearing an end and only a few economic data reports expected this week, investors are awaiting next week’s consumer prices data to gauge if inflation is cooling.
Traders are currently pricing in a 67% chance of the Fed cutting rates by at least 25 basis points in September, according to the CMEGroup’s Fedwatch tool, up from about 54% a week ago.
Investors will monitor comments from Fed speakers - Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, Boston President Susan Collins and Governor Lisa Cook during the day - for fresh clues on the US central bank’s policy path.
By 11:18 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.48 points, or 0.17%, to 38,949.74 - on track for a sixth consecutive day of gains.
The S&P 500 lost 4.28 points, or 0.08%, to 5,183.46, threatening to break its longest winning streak since March, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 38.46 points, or 0.24%, to 16,294.10.
Intel fell 2.9% after warning of a sales hit from the US revoking some of the chipmaker’s export licenses for China.
Tripadvisor tumbled 29% after the online travel agency ruled out a possible sale at this time and posted a surprise quarterly loss.
Uber rival Lyft climbed 9.2% after projecting higher-than-expected gross bookings and a core profit for the current quarter.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.48-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.39-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and two new lows while the Nasdaq recorded 61 new highs and 67 new lows.
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