Stocks drifted to a mixed close overall on Wall Street, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite still managed to notch more record highs. A big gain in Apple helped push both indexes higher Tuesday. The company jumped 7.3% after highlighting its push into artificial intelligence.
- The S&P 500 rose 14.53 points, or 0.3%, to 5,375.32, driven largely by gains in tech stocks, even though more stocks fell than rose within the index.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 120.62 points, or 0.3%, to 38,747.42.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 151.02 points, or 0.9%, to 17,343.55.
The Federal Reserve announces its latest decision on interest rates on Wednesday and is widely expected to leave rates where they are, the
AP reports.
General Motors rose 1.4% after the automaker announced that its board approved a $6 billion stock buyback. Calavo Growers jumped 8.2% after the avocado grower's latest quarterly report beat analysts' forecasts. Affirm Holdings climbed 11% on news that it the buy now, pay later company will be integrated into Apple Pay. Banks were among the biggest weights on the market. Fifth Third Bancorp fell 1% after cutting its forecast for revenue growth. JPMorgan was down 2.6% and Citigroup fell 3.7%.
The key events for the market this week come on Wednesday, when the US releases its latest update on inflation at the consumer level and the Federal Reserve announces its latest update on interest rates. The US will also release its latest update on prices at the wholesale level on Thursday. Wall Street expects the government's consumer price index to remain unchanged at 3.4% in May. Inflation as measured by the CPI is down sharply from its peak at 9.1% in 2022, but it has seemingly stalled around 3%. That has complicated the Fed's goal of taming inflation back to its target rate of 2%.
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Virtually no one expects the Fed to move its main interest rate at its current meeting. Policymakers will be publishing their latest forecasts on Wednesday for where they see interest rates and the economy heading. When Fed officials released their last projections in March, they indicated the typical member foresaw roughly three cuts to interest rates in 2024. That projection will almost certainly fall this time around. "The Fed has a dentist's mentality believing that pain now will save you suffering down the road," says Bryce Doty, senior portfolio manager at Sit Investment Associates. "They are oblivious to how high interest rates are driving up costs for businesses that are being passed on to the consumer." (More stock market stories.)
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