U.S. stocks edged lower Tuesday, consolidating after recent gains on Wall Street, with focus turning to the Jackson Hole Symposium for clues .
At 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT), Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55 points, or 0.1%, while both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite traded largely unchanged.
The benchmark Wall Street indices have been on a positive run of late, with the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite posting their eighth straight positive session on Monday, a first for the S&P 500 since November 2023, and the longest winning stretch for the Nasdaq since December 2023.
Jackson Hole awaited for rate cut cues
The Jackson Hole Symposium – a meeting of major central bank leaders and finance ministers – begins later this week, with an address from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday.
Powell’s address will be closely watched amid growing conviction that the central bank is preparing to cut interest rates by 25 basis points in September, as recent economic readings showed some cooling in inflation.
Powell could potentially flag the possibility of a 50 bps cut, Evercore analysts said, although they do not expect the Fed chairman to explicitly mention just by how much the Fed plans to begin trimming rates.
Any comments on a potential recession will also be in focus, especially whether Powell still sees a soft landing for the U.S. economy.
DNC in focus as 2024 presidential race heats up
Focus this week is also on the Democratic National Convention, with President Joe Biden set to speak at the event later on Monday.
Vice President Kamala Harris was officially nominated as the party’s presidential candidate earlier in August, and picked Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
Harris was endorsed by Biden in July, and was seen swiftly catching up with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in recent polls, presenting a tight 2024 presidential race.
Lowe’s cuts annual forecasts
The economic data slate is largely empty Tuesday, and investors will continue to focus on the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting, on Wednesday, and then Friday’s Jackson Hole speech by Jerome Powell.
On a corporate front, Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) stock fell 1% after the home improvement retailer cut its annual profit and sales forecasts, pointing to a slim chance of a recovery in home improvement demand in the second half of the year.
Cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) stock rose over 5% after posting top and bottom line beats for the fiscal fourth quarter.
Crude edges higher with Gaza talks in focus
Crude prices edged higher Tuesday with the focus on a potential ceasefire deal in Gaza.
By 09:35 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) traded 0.5% higher to $74.05 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.5% to $78.08 a barrel.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a “bridging proposal” presented by Washington to tackle disagreements blocking a ceasefire deal in Gaza, and urged Hamas to do the same.
This points to an increased likelihood of a ceasefire deal, which would see market participants pricing out the risks of an escalation across the wider region, potentially hitting supply from this oil-rich region.
Concerns over China’s demand outlook continue to weigh, with the decision of the People’s Bank to keep its benchmark loan prime rate unchanged disappointing some traders given the country’s recent weak economic data.
In the United States, the American Petroleum Institute will release its estimate of U.S. crude stockpiles later in the session.
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
