US STOCKS-Wall St indexes fall with inflation data and rates in focus

Mongodb

10/12/2024 21:54

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      Oracle slides after Q2 revenue, profit miss estimates
    

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      Chip stocks fall with China's Nvidia probe in focus
    

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      Alaska Airlines jumps after raising Q4 profit forecast
    

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      Indexes fall: Dow 0.35%, S&P 500 0.30%, Nasdaq 0.25%
    

  
 (Updates with final closing prices)
    By Sinéad Carew and Purvi Agarwal
       Dec 10 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes closed
lower on Tuesday as technology sector losses offset gains in
communications services while investors waited for key inflation
reports that may influence the Federal Reserve's next interest
rate decisions.
    Among the S&P 500's 11 major industry sectors, only three
ended with gains a day ahead of the November reading of the
Consumer Price Index, one of 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 an 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.
    Noting the S&P 500's roughly 27% gain for the year so far,  
   Lindsey Bell, chief strategist at 248 Ventures in Charlotte,
North Carolina, said investors are cautious ahead of the
economic data and Fed meeting.
    "We're in a seasonally strong period of the year and
investors are just kind of taking a breather," said Bell.
    Market participants will be watching out for signs that the
U.S. central bank will pause its easing cycle in January, after
a host of Fed officials last week hinted at a slower pace of
monetary policy easing on the back of a resilient economy.
    "It's less about what the Fed does next week but what they
say about the future trajectory of interest rates," said Bell.
    The Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  fell 154.10 points,
or 0.35%, to 44,247.83. The S&P 500  .SPX  lost 17.94 points, or
0.30%, at 6,034.91 and the Nasdaq Composite  .IXIC  fell 49.45
points, or 0.25%, to 19,687.24.
    Communication services  .SPLRCL , up 2.6%, was the biggest
percentage gainer among S&P 500 sectors with help from a 5.6%
rally in shares of Google-parent Alphabet  GOOGL.O  after it
unveiled a new chip. 
    The biggest percentage decliner was real estate  .SPLRCR ,
falling 1.6%. The S&P's biggest index point drag was from
technology  .SPLRCT , down 1.3%. It was weighed down by a 6.7%
drop in Oracle  ORCL.N  shares after the cloud computing company
missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter results. 
    Adding pressure to technology, the Philadelphia
semiconductor index  .SOX  fell 2.5% after China's Monday
announcement of an investigation into Nvidia  NVDA.O  over
suspected violations of anti-monopoly law. The probe was widely
seen as retaliation against U.S. curbs on China's chip sector.
    Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance  WBA.O  rallied 17.7%,
making it the S&P 500's biggest percentage gainer after reports
that it is in talks to sell itself to private equity firm
Sycamore Partners.
    The S&P 500's biggest percentage decliner was Moderna Inc
 MRNA.O , which fell 9.1% after BofA reinstated coverage of the
company with an 'underperform' rating.
    Alaska Airlines  ALK.N  shares rose 13% after it raised its
fourth-quarter profit forecast, while Boeing  BA.N  gained 5.5%
after Reuters reported the planemaker restarted production of
its 737 MAX jets last week.
    Among individual stock movers, software firm MongoDB  MDB.O 
fell 16.9% despite raising its forecast for annual results.
    In mid-caps, luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers  TOL.N  shares
fell 6.9% after its quarterly results beat expectations but its
current quarter forecasts disappointed.
    Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.88-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE where there were 117 new highs and 42 new lows.
    On the Nasdaq, 1,655 stocks rose and 2,671 fell as declining
issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.61-to-1 ratio. 
    The Nasdaq Composite recorded 87 new highs and 86 new lows
while the S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and three new
lows.
    On the volume side, on U.S. exchanges 13.35 billion shares
change hands compared with the 14.35 billion average for the
last 20 sessions.

 (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))