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Financial Markets 08/26 15:24
NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market drifted through a quiet day of
trading Wednesday after a report said inflation was a touch worse last month
than economists expected. Yields in the bond market, home to some of Wall
Street's biggest recent worries, edged higher following the data.
The S&P 500 edged down by less than 0.1% and remains near its all-time high
set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 113 points, or
0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%.
Stocks made relatively few big moves ahead of the latest earnings report
from the market's most influential company, Nvidia, which arrived after trading
ended for the day. Expectations were high once again for the chip giant, whose
tremendous growth in profit because of the artificial-intelligence boom has
made it the largest stock by value in the U.S. market.
After soaring for years, AI stocks have become shakier on worries that their
prices shot too high and that demand for chips may fizzle out if AI does not
produce as much profit as hoped.
Strong profit growth across U.S. companies broadly has been the main reason
the U.S. stock market has run to records this year.
Abercrombie & Fitch leaped 35.7% after reporting a stronger profit for the
latest quarter than analysts expected. The retailer also raised its forecast
for earnings over the full year and for how much cash it will send to investors
by buying back shares of its own stock.
J.M. Smucker climbed 4.3% after likewise reporting sweeter results than
expected for the spring. The seller of Folgers coffee and Smucker's jams also
raised its forecast for profit over the full year.
On the losing end of Wall Street was Intuit, even though the company behind
TurboTax, Credit Karma and QuickBooks topped analysts' profit expectations in
the latest quarter. It fell 3.2% after giving a forecast for profit growth of
nearly 25% in its upcoming fiscal year, which fell short of analysts'
expectations.
Outside of earnings reports, Meta Platforms added 1.1% after agreeing to pay
up to $18 billion and to add child-safety measures to Facebook and Instagram to
end a landmark trial over teen social media addiction and settle claims filed
by states across the country.
All told, the S&P 500 slipped 1.58 to 7,675.70 points. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average dipped 113.52 to 53,463.88, and the Nasdaq composite fell
21.10 to 26,130.20.
In the bond market, which has been home recently to some of Wall Street's
strongest action, Treasury yields ticked higher following updates on inflation
and economic growth.
Yields had shot upward through the summer on worries about high inflation
and the U.S. government's growing and gargantuan debt, among other factors.
They got so high that the U.S. Treasury Department made a surprise announcement
last week to intervene in the bond market, though analysts say its effect could
be limited.
The latest update on inflation released Wednesday said that the measure the
Federal Reserve has historically preferred to use sat at 3.7% last month. That
was the same rate of inflation as in June and slightly worse than the 3.6% that
economists expected, according to FactSet. It remains far worse than the 2%
goal the Fed has set.
Growth in spending by U.S. consumers, which is the main engine of the
economy, slowed at the same time.
The overall economy grew at a 1.5% annual pace in the spring, according to a
revised estimate of its performance, the same amount as the government's first
estimate.
It all helped Treasury yields squiggle up and down before the 10-year
Treasury yield edged up to 4.65% from 4.64% late Tuesday.
Traders didn't change their forecasts much for what the Federal Reserve will
do with its main interest rate in the short term, and they are betting on a
nearly three-in-four chance the Fed will hike the federal funds rate at least
once by the end of the year, according to data from CME Group.
One of the factors that's worsened inflation this year is higher oil prices,
though they've come down recently.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, continued
to swing Wednesday on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow oil
tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again. It dropped as low as $84.56
before settling at $86.94. That's down 0.4% from the day before and from $94 at
the end of last week.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. South
Korea's Kospi climbed 1%, and Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% for two of the
bigger moves.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Michelle Chapman contributed to this
report.
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