US STOCKS-Wall St indexes edge down ahead of inflation data

Mongodb

10/12/2024 19:36

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      Oracle slides after Q2 revenue, profit miss estimates
    

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      Alaska Airlines jumps after raising Q4 profit forecast
    

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      Indexes off : Dow 0.09%, S&P 500 0.12%, Nasdaq off 0.02%
    

  
 (Updates prices to afternoon trading)
    By Sinéad Carew and Purvi Agarwal
       Dec 10 (Reuters) - 
    Wall Street's main indexes edged lower on Tuesday as
investors anxiously awaited key inflation reports that could
influence the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision next
week.
    Among the S&P 500's 11 major industry sectors, communication
services  .SPLRCL , up 2.5%, was the biggest gainer with a
strong boost from Google-parent Alphabet  GOOGL.O , whose shares
rose 5.3% after it unveiled a new-generation chip.
        The weakest sectors were rate-sensitive real estate
 .SPLRCR , down 1.4%, and technology  .SPLRCT , down 1%. Tech
was dragged down by a 7.7% drop in Oracle  ORCL.N  after the
cloud computing company missed Wall Street estimates for
second-quarter results. 
        A November reading of the Consumer Price Index, due on
Wednesday, is among the last major reports ahead of the Fed's
Dec. 17-18 meeting. Headline inflation is expected to have risen
slightly in November to 2.7% from 2.6% in October. The Producer
Price Index report will follow on Thursday.
        "There's a little bit of wait-and-see in the market
ahead of the CPI and PPI data this week," said Mona Mahajan,
head of investment strategy at Edward Jones. "Markets want to
see a number that won't be too disruptive to the Fed next week."
  
        If the CPI comes in line with estimates, investors will
expect an "all clear" for the Fed to lower rates by 25 basis
points next week, she added.
  
        Traders see a 86% chance for a cut next week, CME's
FedWatch Tool showed. Bets had jumped after Friday's news of an
uptick in unemployment along with a rebound in job growth, which
had slowed in October. 
    However, bets indicate the U.S. 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.
    As of 2:09 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI 
fell 42.00 points, or 0.09%, to 44,359.09. The S&P 500  .SPX 
lost 7.06 points, or 0.12%, at 6,045.79 and the Nasdaq Composite
 .IXIC  fell 4.16 points, or 0.02%, to 19,732.53.
        Among individual stock movers, software firm MongoDB
 MDB.O  slipped about 15% despite raising its forecast for
annual results.
    Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance  WBA.O  rose 18% on news
that it is in talks to sell itself to private equity firm
Sycamore Partners.
    Alaska Airlines  ALK.N  jumped 12% as the carrier raised its
fourth-quarter profit forecast, while Boeing  BA.N  added 5%
after Reuters reported the planemaker restarted production of
its 737 MAX jets last week.
    Luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers  TOL.N  fell 6% after its
quarterly results beat expectations but its current quarter
forecasts disappointed.
        Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.36-to-1
ratio on the NYSE where there were 92 new highs and 32 new lows.
  
        On the Nasdaq, 1,931 stocks rose and 2,285 fell as
declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.18-to-1 ratio. The
S&P 500 posted eight new 52-week highs and two new lows while
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 78 new lows.
  

 (Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Purvi Agarwal and
Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and
Richard Chang)
 ((sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com, +13322191897))