NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq leading declines as technology stocks slumped ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, while investors focused on the Federal Reserve’s next move following an in-line inflation reading.
Data showed consumer spending increased solidly in October, suggesting the economy maintained its strong pace of growth early in the fourth quarter, but progress on lowering inflation appears to have stalled in the past months.
Traders added to bets the Fed will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points at its December meeting, according to CME’s FedWatch. However, they anticipate the central bank leaving rates unchanged at its January and March meetings.
At 11:57 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.26 points, or 0.09%, to 44,821.05, the S&P 500 lost 29.12 points, or 0.48%, to 5,992.51 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 203.28 points, or 1.06%, to 18,972.30.
Dell and HP fell 10.5% and 10.1%, respectively, after downbeat quarterly forecasts and weighed on the Information Technology sector, which led sectoral declines and lost 2%.
The sentiment spread to megacaps such as Nvidia and Microsoft, which dropped 3.5% and 1% respectively, while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index slid 3.2% to hit a more than two-month low.
The Russell 2000 index, which hit a record high earlier in the week, eked out a 0.1% gain.
Investors also assessed data earlier in the day which showed the economy grew at a solid clip in the third quarter, while weekly jobless claims fell again last week, leaving the door open for another interest-rate cut from the Federal Reserve in December.
“Inflation has proven to be a little stickier than the Fed would have liked, which may give them pause with respect to cutting rates,” said Scott Welch, chief investment officer at Certuity.
“There are questions around the effects of Trump’s stated tariff policy, which, if implemented could be pretty inflationary and so the Fed is going to have to balance itself between the economic data and the incoming administration’s policy agenda.”
Minutes from the Fed’s November meeting, released on Tuesday, showed policymakers were uncertain about the outlook for interest-rate cuts and how much the current rates were restricting the economy.
Concerns include US President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tax cuts and tariff policies, including his latest stance on imports from Mexico, Canada and China, which could push up prices, spark a trade war and weigh on growth globally.
The benchmark S&P 500 is on track for its biggest one-month rise in a year and its sixth month of gains out of seven, as markets price in the probability of Trump’s policies benefiting local businesses and the overall economy.
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