The US stock market drifted through a quiet day of trading on Wednesday after a report said inflation last month was a touch worse than economists expected.
- The S&P 500 edged down by 1.58 points, or less than 0.1%, to 7,675.70 and remains near its all-time high set earlier this month.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 113.52 points, or 0.2%, to 53,463.88.
- The Nasdaq composite fell 21.10 points, or 0.1%, to 26,130.20.
Treasury yields ticked higher following the update on inflation, which has traders still mostly betting the Federal Reserve will hike the federal funds rate by the end of this year, the
AP reports. Oil prices slipped following some more swings up and down throughout the day.
Stocks are made relatively few big moves ahead of an earnings report coming from its most influential company, Nvidia, after trading ends for the day. Expectations are high once again for the chip giant, whose tremendous growth in profit because of the artificial-intelligence boom has made it the largest stock by value in the US market. After soaring for years, AI stocks have become shakier on worries that their prices shot too high and that demand for chips may fizzle out if AI does not produce as much profit as hoped. That has anticipation high to see what kind of forecast Nvidia gives for upcoming revenue.
Abercrombie & Fitch leaped 35.7% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The retailer also raised its forecast for earnings over the full year and for how much cash it will send to investors by buying back shares of its own stock. JM Smucker climbed 4.3% after likewise reporting sweeter results than expected for the spring. The seller of Folgers coffee and Smucker's jams also raised its forecast for profit over the full year.
- On the losing end of Wall Street was Intuit, even though the company behind TurboTax, Credit Karma, and QuickBooks topped analysts' profit expectations in the latest quarter. It fell 3.2% after giving a forecast for profit growth of nearly 25% in its upcoming fiscal year, which fell short of analysts' expectations.
- Outside of earnings reports, Meta Platforms added 1.1% after agreeing to pay $17 billion and to add child-safety measures to Facebook and Instagram to end a landmark trial over teen social media addiction and settle claims filed by states across the country.
The latest update on inflation released Wednesday said that the measure the Federal Reserve has historically preferred to use sat at 3.7% last month. That was the same rate of inflation as in June and slightly worse than the 3.6% that economists expected, according to FactSet. It remains far worse than the 2% goal the Fed has set. Growth in spending by US consumers, which is the main engine of the economy, slowed at the same time. The overall economy grew at a 1.5% annual pace in the spring, according to a revised estimate of its performance, the same amount as the government's first estimate. It all helped Treasury yields squiggle up and down before the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.67%, up from 4.64% late Tuesday.
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