US stocks lose ground ahead of Fed address
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Traders working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, on Aug 20, in New York City.
PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks slipped on Aug 20 after an earlier rally supported by strong retail sales figures and a cooler inflation report – as investors look towards a speech from the Federal Reserve chief later this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2 per cent to 40,834.97, while the broad-based S&P 500 Index retreated by the same amount to 5,597.12.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.3 per cent to 17,816.94.
“It’s been a volatile couple of weeks, and we had a big, big rally from the lows,” said Mr Sam Burns, chief strategist at Mill Street Research.
“Usually, after that kind of a move - and it’s been eight or nine days now of the S&P 500 being up - it’s pretty typical to have a quiet day of consolidation like we’re seeing today,” he added.
Stock markets climbed after the consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, logged its smallest 12-month increase since 2021 - boosting the prospect of a September interest rate cut.
But now, investors are looking ahead to Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks at the annual gathering of central bankers and economists in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
He is widely anticipated to keep alive the prospect of a September start to rate cuts - and could give clues on the path of further reductions ahead.
Among individual companies, shares in cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks jumped 7.2 per cent on the back of quarterly results that topped estimates. AFP
