Trading was generally slow on Wednesday, but Wall Street stock indexes were close to the all-time highs they hit last week.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.2% after fluctuating between small gains and losses throughout the day, with roughly 65% of the stocks in the benchmark index falling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up less than 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.5%.
Several large-cap stocks helped offset the S&P 500’s overall decline.
Amazon.com rose 3.9%; Market capitalization tops $2 trillion for the first timeThe e-commerce giant’s rise in stock market valuation comes just over a week after Nvidia hit a market capitalization of $3 trillion, briefly making it Wall Street’s most valuable company.
General Mills Inc., the maker of Cheerios, reported a bigger drop in revenue for its latest quarter than analysts expected, sending its shares down 4.6%. The company is grappling with declining sales volumes as consumers become more cautious and price-sensitive amid persistent inflation.
As Seth Sutell of the Associated Press reports, the market is moving away from recent records.
Chipotle rose 0.3% on the first day after its 50-for-1 stock split. The company had previously been one of the most expensive stocks in the S&P 500 index.
FedEx offset losses with a 15.5% profit increase after the package-shipping company reported much better-than-expected results in its latest quarterly results. Rivian Shares soared 23.2% after Volkswagen said it would invest up to $5 billion in the struggling electric car maker.
Several big tech companies saw their shares rise. Apple rose 2% and Microsoft rose 0.3%. These companies’ stock prices are big and they tend to have a big influence on the direction of the market.
Overall, the S&P 500 rose 8.60 points to 5,477.90, the Dow added 15.64 points to 39,127.80 and the Nasdaq added 87.50 points to 17,805.16.
The big focus on Wall Street this week will be the government’s latest inflation report, due out on Friday. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index is expected to reach 1.5 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. Federal Reserve A favorable indicator of inflation.
“The market is basically just idling like a race car waiting for the green light,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. “The light will change on Friday morning when the PCE numbers are released.”
Wall Street expects the index to show inflation easing to 2.6% in May after 2.7% in April.
The Fed is trying to keep inflation at its 2% target, but inflation has struggled to pick up: PCE has been hovering just below 3% for several months, while the better-known Consumer Price Index has hovered around 3% through 2024, before rising to 9.1% in mid-2022.
The latest information on inflation could influence the central bank’s decision on when to start cutting interest rates, which are at their highest in more than two decades.
“While volatile inflation data may prompt policymakers to tread cautiously, the global deflation process is well established,” Solita Marcelli and other analysts said in a UBS report. “Easing price pressures and other economic considerations should prompt central banks to begin or continue lowering interest rates.”
In the bond market, Treasury yields were mixed. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.32% from 4.25% late Tuesday. It has mostly trended lower since hitting above 4.70% in late April, easing pressure on the stock market.
Investors are hoping the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates soon, with Wall Street expecting a cut in interest rates when the central bank meets in September.
The economy has held up relatively well despite inflation and high borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. But growth has slowed and consumers appear to be becoming more stressed and shifting spending toward necessities. Wall Street is hoping the Fed will time its rate cuts to ease pressure before the economy slows too much, without missing its goal of keeping inflation in check.
“It’s too early for the market to take any encouragement or disappointment from the earnings report and the near-term focus will be on economic data suggesting the Fed could cut rates as early as September,” Stovall said.
