NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were little changed Tuesday after President Donald Trump moved to fire a central bank governor and threatened further tariffs on countries seen to be targeting US tech firms.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 0.1 percent to 45,255.94, as did the broad-based S&P 500 Index to 6,433.72.
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index ticked down too by 0.1 percent to 21,423.16.
Late Monday, Trump published a letter on his Truth Social platform announcing the removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from her role, in an unprecedented move that ramped up pressure on the independent central bank.
Trump pointed to allegations of mortgage fraud in ousting Cook, but she has pushed back saying that he had “no authority to do so.”
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The case is likely to head to the courts, with a possibility that Cook remains in her seat during this process.
Trump’s latest move comes after months of criticism against the Fed, with the US leader calling repeatedly for interest rates to be slashed.
But early Tuesday, US Treasury bond yields, which are closely watched as a proxy for interest rates, were little changed.
“One explanation could be that there’s a strong belief that this will fail in the courts because she has not been proven guilty of anything at the moment,” Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers said, referring to Cook.
He said the yield on the 10-year Treasury note was “essentially unchanged.”
“If the market were truly expressing its concerns about Fed independence, we would start to see the 10-year yield rise dramatically,” he added.
Investors are looking ahead this week to Nvidia’s earnings results, due Wednesday. The AI chip giant’s shares were down 0.1 percent in early trading.
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