NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks paused near records early Tuesday following solid US retail sales data as markets await a Federal Reserve decision.
US retail sales jumped by 0.6 percent on a month-on-month basis in August, holding steady from the prior month’s level and topping analyst expectations.
“The key takeaway from the report is that it reflects a consumer still spending at a good clip,” said a note from Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent at 45,786.86.
The broad-based S&P 500 was flat at 6,615.42, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up by less than 0.1 percent at 22,356.00.
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Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended at records on Monday.
The retail sales data comes as markets look ahead to Wednesday’s Fed decision. Markets expect the Fed to cut interest rates by 25 basis points, but O’Hare said the strong retail data will likely “temper” the odds of a bigger interest rate cut.
Among individual companies, Oracle surged 8.9 percent as the United States and China progressed towards a final accord on TikTok that reportedly maintains the US software company’s cloud deal with the platform.
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