New York, Aug 18 (AP) Wall Street is holding near its record heights on Monday, ahead of a week likely to be dominated by updates from the head of the Federal Reserve and from some of the biggest US retailers.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent, coming off its first loss after setting an all-time high in three consecutive days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 27 points, or 0.1 per cent, as of 10:45 am Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite dipped 0.2 per cent.
Novo Nordisk's stock that trades in the United States rose 4.8 per cent after the Danish company said US regulators approved its Wegovy drug as part of a treatment for a liver disease found in many overweight and obese people.
Soho House, a membership club with locations around the world, jumped 15.5 per cent after announcing a deal where an investor group led by hotel-operator MCR would pay USD 9 in cash for its shares.
Several of the country's largest retailers, meanwhile, were mixed ahead of their profit reports that are scheduled for later in the week. Home Depot, which will report on Tuesday, slipped 1 per cent.
Target rose 2.8 per cent ahead of its report on Wednesday, and Walmart added 0.4 per cent before its report on Thursday.
They, along with companies like Estee Lauder and Ross Stores, could offer a look at how different types of US households are holding up when the job market seems to have morphed into one where relatively few workers are getting fired but also hired.
Just like a small group of wealthy households are separating from the rest of the country, a handful of Big Tech companies are dominating the U.S. stock market, in part because of a boom in spending around artificial-intelligence technology.
This separation of “haves” and “have nots” in the stock market could be increasing the risk, with many companies potentially facing trouble if the economy stagnates and inflation is high, according to Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. The danger is that investors could look at how much the broad S&P 500 has surged since its low point in April and “extrapolate the success of the few to the gains of the many.” On Friday, the focus will swing to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has been the home in past years of many big policy announcements from the Federal Reserve. There, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech, and investors are hoping to hear how his mind has changed about interest rates since he said last month that he wanted to wait longer before cutting interest rates.
The fear at that time was that President Donald Trump's tariffs could push inflation higher. Now, though, the bigger fear could be the slowing US job market following a disappointingly weak report on employment that arrived just after the Fed's last meeting.
The Fed's twin jobs are to keep the job market healthy while also maintaining a lid on inflation, and helping one can often hurt the other in the short term. Lower rates can boost the economy by making it cheaper for US households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, for example, but they also risk worsening inflation.
Inflation data since the Fed's last meeting has come in mixed, further muddying the picture, but traders are nevertheless strongly expecting the Fed to cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its next meeting in September. The hope is that Powell could give a nod to that.
Hopes for lower rates have pulled Treasury yields lower lately, and they largely remained there on Monday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.33 per cent, where it was late Friday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell slightly in Europe in their first trading after Trump's inconclusive summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine. Trump is set to meet later in the day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders.
In Asia, indexes were mixed, with Japan's Nikkei 225 rising 0.8 per cent and South Korea's Kospi falling 1.5 per cent.
This report includes content sourced from Press Trust of India (PTI), edited for clarity and context.
