US stocks mixed as markets try to shrug off downturn fears

NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as investors tried to look past downturn worries ahead of this week’s inflation data, which will be closely watched for its impact on central bank decisions.

The movements came as the International Monetary Fund trimmed its global growth forecast while a Federal Reserve official urged caution about raising interest rates too aggressively.

“Today’s headlines didn’t tell Wall Street anything it didn’t already know,” said Mr Edward Moya, of the Oanda trading platform, echoing analyst sentiment that lower global growth was likely already priced-in by markets.

But he said he expects that upcoming inflation figures will likely support one more rate hike by the Fed, to rein in stubborn price increases.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.3 per cent higher at 33,684.79, while the broad-based S&P 500 was flat at 4,108.94.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.4 per cent to 12,031.88.

“We are definitely in a bit of a wait-and-see period for the markets,” said Mr Steve Sosnick, of Interactive Brokers.

With the consumer price index to be released on Wednesday, producer price index due on Thursday and bank earnings on Friday, he added: “There is going to be a lot for the markets to digest.”

But at a press briefing in Washington, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stressed that

she is not anticipating a downturn

in the US economy, even if that remains a risk.

Among individual companies, shares of used car retailer CarMax surged nearly 10 per cent after it reported a better quarterly profit than expected. AFP