NEW YORK: The S&P 500 paused on Friday as investors digested a spate of encouraging economic data that dispelled slowdown concerns and put Wall Street’s main indexes on course for their best weekly performance this year.
Latest economic data was mixed. The Commerce Department’s report showed US single-family homebuilding dropped to a near 1-1/2-year low in July, while the University of Michigan’s survey indicated consumer sentiment rose in August in line with expectations.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have nearly recouped all of their losses from a rout that pushed the Nasdaq in correction territory two weeks ago, as better-than-expected data calmed nerves over a recession in the world’s largest economy.
US consumer and producer prices data this week indicated inflation was moderating at a pace that would keep the Federal Reserve on track to start its monetary easing cycle with a 25-basis point rate cut next month.
“The Goldilocks is very much intact. The disinflation is happening, the consumer and job market are resilient and the
economy overall is doing pretty well. We are seeing some softness but not weakness in jobless claims,” said Scott Acheychek, chief operating officer of REX Shares.
“We’re shaping up for a nice soft landing so the pivot right now is, what is the Fed thinking for September?” Next week, market participants will look to minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting and remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium, an annual gathering of global central bankers, for more clues on the rate cut trajectory.
In an interview with National Public Radio, Chicago Fed chief Austan Goolsbee said central bank officials should be wary of keeping restrictive policy in place longer than necessary.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were headed for their sharpest weekly percentage gains since October, while the Dow was on pace for its best weekly showing since December.
At 11:31 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.90 points, or 0.01%, to 40,558.16, the S&P 500 lost 4.03 points, or 0.06%, to 5,539.67 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 22.52 points, or 0.13%, to 17,571.98.
Applied Materials dropped over 3% following a strong jump ahead of its results. The chip-making equipment firm forecast fourth-quarter revenue slightly above Wall Street estimates.
US-listed shares of Amcor slipped 6% after the packaging company reported a more-than-expected decline in fourth-quarter sales, hurt by weaker demand for its containers and cartons.
Shares of mpox vaccine developers Emergent BioSolutions and GeoVax Labs climbed after cases of mpox were reported outside Africa.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.34-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.06-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted six new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 45 new highs and 61 new lows.
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