US stock indexes are edging back from their record levels as an incredibly busy week for Wall Street picks up momentum.
The S&P 500 was down 0.3 per cent in afternoon trading after setting an all-time high in six straight days. The Dow Jones was down 227 points, or 0.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.3 per cent from its own record.
Wall Street Credit: Bloomberg
The Australian sharemarket is set to dip, with futures at 4.56am AEST pointing to a loss of 8 points, or 0.1 per cent, at the open. The ASX edged 0.1 per cent higher on Tuesday. The Australian dollar was steady at 65.16 US cents at 5.16am.
SoFi Technologies jumped 8.7 per cent, but Merck dropped 2.2 per cent and UPS sank 9.4 per cent following a torrent of profit reports from big US companies. They’re among the hundreds of companies telling investors this week how much they made during the spring, including nearly a third of the stocks in the S&P 500 index.
Treasury yields eased in the bond market as the Federal Reserve begins a two-day meeting where they will decide what to do with short-term interest rates. Despite angry lobbying from President Donald Trump for lower rates, which would give the economy a boost, the widespread expectation is that the Fed will wait for more data about how Trump’s tariffs are affecting inflation and the economy before making its next move.
The US economy has seemed to hold up OK so far despite the pressures of tariffs, though it does appear to be slowing.
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One report on Tuesday said that US employers were advertising fewer job openings at the end of June than a month before, though still more than economists expected. A separate report said confidence rose among US consumers, but a measure of their expectations about the near term remains below the level that typically signals a recession ahead.
“Consumer confidence has stabilised since May, rebounding from April’s plunge, but remains below last year’s heady levels,” according to Stephanie Guichard, senior economist, global indicators, at The Conference Board.
