Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street faltered on Friday, heading for a third straight weekly gain as investors digested comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials and awaited important inflation data next week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were slightly higher and the Nasdaq was in the red, but all three indexes were on track for their third straight weekly gain, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average expected to have its biggest percentage gain from Friday to Friday from mid-December.
Comments from several Fed officials helped set expectations as market participants awaited inflation data next week.
“We’re just treading water right now, so we’ll have to wait until we get inflation and retail sales data next week,” said Paul Nolte, market strategist at Murphy & Silvest in Elmhurst, Illinois. “We have a tough week ahead of us and I don’t think investors are ready to commit to it.”
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic acknowledged recent signs of a slowing economy, but added that the timing of rate cuts remains uncertain.
Striking a more hawkish tone, Dallas Fed President Laurie Logan said it was unclear whether monetary policy had been tight enough to bring inflation down to the central bank’s 2% target.
Hints of progress toward that goal will come next week when the Labor Department releases consumer price and producer price indices (CPI and PPI).
Analysts expect the key CPI report to show core prices at 3.6% annualized, which would be the steepest in three years.
“The Fed’s intention is not to raise rates, but to cut them, so ‘higher and longer’ is about as bad as it gets unless things actually fall off the table,” Nolte added.
remove advertising
.
On Friday, a preliminary analysis from the University of Michigan on May consumer sentiment showed that U.S. consumer sentiment fell sharply in the month of August 2021, while short- and long-term inflation expectations increased.
At 2:07 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 was up 71.87 points, or 0.18%, at 39,459.63, the S&P 500 was up 3.94 points, or 0.08%, at 5,218.02 and fell 15.15 points, or 0.09%, to 16,331.11.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 index, technology stocks gained the most, while energy stocks lagged.
The first quarter earnings season is coming to an end. Of the 459 S&P 500 companies that reported, 77% reported results that beat consensus, according to LSEG.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:) shares rose 1.3% after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest chipmaker and Nvidia’s main supplier, reported a nearly 60% jump in April sales.
Novavax (NASDAQ:) Shares surged 99.3% following a licensing deal with a vaccine maker worth up to $1.2 billion. Sanofi (NASDAQ:).
SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:) jumped 9.8% after beating first-quarter revenue estimates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.34-to-1 ratio; On the Nasdaq, a 1.69-to-1 ratio favored declines.
The S&P 500 hit 56 new 52-week highs and no new lows; The Nasdaq Composite Index recorded 87 new highs and 88 new lows.