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03/07/24
177
Wall Street Flat; Focus on Fed Minutes
On Wednesday, stocks on Wall Street were little changed in holiday-affected volumes and consolidated after recent gains before the official jobs report.
The NASDAQ Composite edged 7 points, or 0.1%, higher, the S&P 500 climbed 4 points, or 0.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 75 points, or 0.2%.
The major indices on Wall Street are on track for Wednesday’s shortened trading day before Thursday’s Independence Day holiday and came off Tuesday’s strong gains after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell highlighted some progress in eased inflation.
As he on Tuesday appeared at a European Central Bank forum in Portugal, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said some progress had been made in bringing inflation down, although he added that the Fed still required more confidence before beginning to cut interest rates.
Investors are now focused on the minutes of the Fed’s meeting in June, which are due to be released later today. This was the meeting at which the U.S. central bank kept rates steady but slashed its forecast for interest rate cuts in 2024, citing worries over the persistent inflation.
Data earlier on Wednesday showed that U.S. private payrolls in June increased by 150K jobs, lower than May’s revised 157K gain, consistent with labor market momentum slowing.
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