NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes were flat on Tuesday, with Wall Street seeing fewer big moves than expected. First interest rate cut It's been more than four years.
The S&P 500 rose 1.49 points, or less than 0.1%, to 5,634.58. It remains 0.6% below its all-time closing high set in July but briefly surpassed that level in the morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 15.90 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 41,606.18. Recorded the previous dayMeanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 35.93 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,628.06.
Intel led the market, rising 2.7%. A series of announcementsThat includes expanding its partnership with Amazon Web Services to manufacture custom chips. Intel also detailed plans to build out its foundry business.
That helped offset a 2.2% drop at Philip Morris International, which said it expects to post a $220 million loss in third-quarter results due to the sale of its inhaled-therapy subsidiary, Vectara Group.
The calm movement of the U.S. stock market as a whole was a stark contrast to the previous week, when the S&P 500 briefly fell nearly 10% from its all-time high. Global markets were in turmoil Concerns Slowing US economy Done fall into a recessionThere were also technical factors that forced hedge funds around the world to withdraw. Popular Deals All at once.
Anticipation has been building since then for the Federal Reserve's announcement scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. The consensus on Wall Street is that the central bank will cut the federal funds rate, which has been in the 5.25% to 5.50% range for more than a year.
Lower rates would make things easier for an economy that is already starting to slow as borrowing costs for everything from homes to cars to corporate debt rise. The Fed has been keeping its key interest rate at a 20-year high in the hopes of squeezing the economy enough to tame high inflation.
Now that inflation has fallen significantly from its summer peak two years ago, the Fed believes it can shift its focus to protecting the job market and the economy. The only question is how far the Fed will cut interest rates, and that is a delicate balancing act.
Cutting interest rates would jump-start the broader economy and financial markets, but it could also send inflation soaring even faster. Critics say the Fed has already come too late to help the economy, while others warn that inflation remains stubbornly higher than it has been in the past.
The consensus on Wall Street is that the Fed will cut rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday, according to data from CME Group, but that's not a certainty: Traders still see a 35% chance of a 25-point cut, the same as usual.
Economic reports released on Tuesday did little to change those expectations. One report showed that the U.S. Shoppers spent more at retail stores U.S. retail store sales beat expectations last month, an encouraging sign of the core strength of the U.S. economy, but the details below the surface may have been more discouraging. Excluding autos and fuel, U.S. retail store sales came in slightly below economists' expectations last month.
“This data doesn't really determine the issue for the Fed one way or the other” regarding the size of Wednesday's rate cut, Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investments at Morgan Stanley E-Trade, said in a statement.
A separate report released the same afternoon said U.S. industrial production turned positive in August, stronger than economists had expected.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.64% from Monday's close of 3.62%. The yield on the two-year note, which better reflects expectations of Fed action, rose to 3.59% from 3.56%.
In overseas stock markets, the Nikkei Stock Average fell 1% as the Japanese yen strengthened against the US dollar.
The yen has strengthened on expectations that the Bank of Japan will go in the opposite direction to the Federal Reserve and continue to raise interest rates. A stronger yen could weigh on profits for Japan's biggest exporters.
Stock indexes rose slightly across much of Europe, while markets were closed in mainland China and South Korea.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
