The Nasdaq outpaced its Wall Street peers on Tuesday, boosted by rising megacap technology stocks, while focus remained on a key inflation report this week that could influence the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest rate verdict.
Most megacap and growth stocks advanced early on, with Google-parent Alphabet jumping 4.7%, pushing the communication services sub-sector up 2.2% to an all-time high.
Broader markets, however, were under pressure, with nine of the 11 major S&P sectors down. Utilities led losses with a 1.2% fall.
At 9:37 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 145.77 points, or 0.33%, to 44,256.16, the S&P 500 lost 0.16 points, or 0.00%, to 6,052.69 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 82.12 points, or 0.42%, to 19,818.81.
A November reading of the consumer price index (CPI), due on Wednesday, is among the last major datasets ahead of the Fed’s Dec. 17-18 meeting. Headline inflation is expected to have risen slightly last month.
Trader bets on the Fed delivering another 25 basis point interest rate cut next week stand at over 86%, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool. Bets had jumped after Friday’s employment report that showed a surge in job growth but also marked an uptick in unemployment.
However, bets indicate the central bank is expected to pause its easing cycle in January, as a host of Fed officials last week hinted at a slower pace of monetary policy easing on the back of a resilient economy.
Technology stocks pull down Wall Street ahead of inflation data
“I’m pretty in line with consensus in terms of what to expect at the FOMC meeting this month … there’s an expectation that CPI will be consistent with the last couple of months which means that inflation is generally heading back towards target but with some bumps along the way,” said John Belton, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds.
U.S. equities started their year-end journey on a broadly positive note, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq logging gains in their first week, building upon a stellar November after Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election.
The president-elect’s potential policies on tax cuts and looser regulation in the incoming administration are expected to boost corporate performance.
Among other notable movers, Oracle dipped 9.1% after the cloud computing company missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter results, while software firm MongoDB slipped 8.6% despite raising its forecast for annual results.
Alaska Airlines jumped 11.5% as the carrier raised its fourth-quarter profit forecast, while Boeing added 2.8% after Reuters reported the planemaker restarted production of its 737 MAX jets last week.
Pinterest slipped 3.5% as Piper Sandler downgraded its rating on the image-sharing platform to “neutral” from “overweight”, while eBay eased 3.8% after Jefferies lowered the e-commerce firm’s rating to “underperform” from “hold”.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.66-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.59-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 22 new highs and 29 new lows.