Stocks on Wall Street stagnated on Tuesday after posting their longest rise this year amid hopes that Jerome Powell might signal that the Federal Reserve is willing to cut interest rates even more.
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) rose 0.1 percent, ending an eight-day winning streak for the benchmark index – the longest since November. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) hovered around the zero line, while contracts for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) also rose 0.1 percent.
Markets are treading water as anticipation builds for Fed Chairman Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole meeting later this week. Stocks have rebounded sharply after a slump in early August as new economic data bolstered the case for the central bank to begin cutting interest rates sooner – and perhaps even more – than previously thought.
Wall Street expects Powell to set the stage for a September rate cut in dovish remarks on Friday after several Fed officials agreed to ease rates. The debate now is more about whether a 0.5% cut is possible than the timing of the move and what role upcoming labor market data will play.
At the corporate level, Lowe’s (LOW) cut its earnings and sales forecasts for the year ahead of the open. The home improvement retailer joined rival Home Depot (HD) in complaining about weak consumer demand for big-ticket purchases.
In commodities, gold (GC=F) continued its rally, climbing above $2,520 an ounce to hit a new record high. The metal’s price has risen over 20 percent so far this year as geopolitical conflicts and the prospect of interest rate cuts boost the appeal of the safe-haven, non-interest-bearing asset.
