By Ambar Warrick and Devik Jainen
(Reuters) – Wall Street indexes fell on Wednesday, as data indicated the strength of the U.S. economy, but also indicated inflationary pressures, and disappointments in traders ’earnings also led to disappointment.
Large store operator Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE 🙂 and Gap Inc (NYSE 🙂 clothing retailers fell 29.3% and 23.2%, respectively, after both companies warned of supply chain problems and rising costs on their way to a crucial holiday season.
The broader retail index fell 0.4% as the results set a rough tone for the sector ahead of Thanksgiving weekend, as heavy US buying time begins.
“The problem is that expectations are high for traders to have a strong and robust holiday shopping season. To be less than that will be a disappointment,” said Ken Mahoney, Mahoney’s CEO of Asset Management.
Shares of the technology were on the Nasdaq and prolonged losses this week after Jerome Powell was appointed for a second term as the Federal Reserve chairman pushed for a tightening of US monetary policy faster. [US/]
Technology stocks are sensitive to rising interest rates, as their value is based on future earnings, which are discounted more deeply when rates rise.
The S&P technology sector and the communications services sector fell by 0.4% each.
The data showed U.S. consumer spending rose more than expected in October as homes bought motor vehicles and other goods, even as price pressures warmed.
The so-called core PCE price index, the Fed’s favorite measure of inflation, accelerated 4.1% in the 12 months to October, after advancing 3.7% in September.
Another set of weekly unemployment claims fell and GDP rose higher in the third quarter.
Attention is also drawn to the minutes of the Fed’s November 2-3 meeting, later in the day, to get information on the pace at which the central bank intends to reduce COVID-era stimulus measures. Faith officials agreed at the meeting to begin reducing monthly asset purchases.
Low trading volumes this week ahead of a market break on Thursday and a short session on Friday kept volatility high.
At 10:25 a.m. ET, it fell 105.30 points, or 0.29%, to 35,708.50, and the S&P 500 was 11.77 points, or 0.25%, at 4,678.93. It fell by 49.83 points, or 0.32%, to 15,725.31 points.
Among other shares, Tesla (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc. reversed early losses after CEO Elon Musk sold another 934,091 shares of electric vehicle maker after taking advantage of $ 1.05 billion worth of options to buy 2.15 million shares. Its shares rose 0.4% last time.
Shares of computer manufacturers HP Inc (NYSE 🙂 and Dell Technologies (NYSE 🙂 rose 8.9% and 4.3%, respectively, while quarterly earnings rose more than fourfold amid growing demand for personal computers.
They outperformed the 1.40-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and the 1.25-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 17 new highs and four new lows in 52 weeks, while the Nasdaq recorded 30 new highs and 195 new lows.
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