U.S. stocks are drifting near their record heights. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% Monday but remains near its all-time high set on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 174 points, and the Nasdaq composite was flat. Wall Street has run to records in large part because profits are booming for big U.S. companies, and investors are waiting for the latest earnings updates from some of the nation’s biggest retailers coming later this week. In the meantime, oil prices are edging higher and helped push Treasury yields upward in the bond market. Stocks slipped in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.
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U.S. stocks edged back from their all-time high following the latest economic report to come in surprisingly weak. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% Friday from its record set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. Stocks gave up modest gains from the morning after oil prices swung higher. Also raising uncertainty was a report showing shoppers spent less at U.S. retailers last month. Such data could keep interest rates low, which is something Wall Street loves, but it also raises the risk of slowing economic growth when inflation is still high.
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The U.S. stock market rose to a record following the latest sign that inflation is getting less bad. Stocks also got a lift Thursday from easing oil prices in their latest yo-yo move. The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% and topped its prior all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.8%. Treasury yields eased in the bond market after a report showed that inflation at the U.S. wholesale level was not as bad in July as it was in June or as economists expected. Brent crude oil’s price fell 2.1%.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. applications for unemployment benefits rose last week, but layoffs remain at historically healthy levels.
Wholesale inflation dropped last month as gas prices reversed some of their Iran war spike and other costs also cooled, a sign that consumer inflation could grind lower in the months ahead. The Labor Department’s producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 4.7% in July from a year ago, down from a much larger 5.5% increase in June. On a monthly basis, wholesale prices were unchanged from June to July, after they ticked down 0.1% the previous month.
Wall Street finished just shy of a record after several AI stocks reported better growth for the spring than analysts expected, while a report showed inflation across the United States was slightly less bad last month. The S&P 500 added 0.3% Wednesday for its first gain since setting its all-time high on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%. Stocks like Nvidia and Super Micro Computer helped lead the way on signals that businesses continue to spend big dollars on AI infrastructure. Treasury yields eased following the latest inflation data.
U.S. inflation slowed last month and a measure of underlying price pressures also cooled, suggesting higher oil and gas prices from the Iran war are only having a limited impact on broader costs in the economy. Consumer prices rose 3.4% in July from a year ago, down slightly from 3.5% in June, the Labor Department said Wednesday. But inflation is still higher than before the Iran war began in February, when it was 2.4%. On a monthly basis, prices rose just 0.1% from June to July.