NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks traded lower on Monday as investors awaited an earnings report by AI chip giant Nvidia, pulling back from a rally after the US central bank chief opened the door to interest rate cuts last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.1 percent to 45,577.09, while the broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.2 percent to 6,455.88.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.4 percent to 21,420.33.
“AI has been the primary driver of the market this year,” said Christopher Low of FHN Financial, referring to developments in artificial intelligence.
Wall Street Week Ahead: Investors zero in on Nvidia results as US tech stocks waver
He added that Nvidia, which reports its earnings on Wednesday, is a key firm to watch as it is a stock that people “have used to wager” on the industry.
Investors are also monitoring the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge due at the end of the week, after the consumer price index and producer price index – both inflation gauges as well – “were a little bit hot this month,” Low said.
Meanwhile, even as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled Friday that the central bank could lower interest rates at its next policy meeting in September, analysts have noted that the jury is still out on whether officials will do so.
Low told AFP that some Fed officials have said they need to see more data before making up their mind on the path of monetary policy.
Analysts expect that one critical report is that of the employment market – due in the first week of September.
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