S&P 500 Flat as Fed Sees Tapering Starting This Year By Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 was flat Tuesday, as investors weighed up the Federal Reserve’s minutes from its July meeting, signalling that the central bank could begin tapering its monthly bond purchases this year. 

The fell 0.2%, the slipped 0.2%, or 60 points, the Nasdaq was up 0.1%.

“[M]ost participants noted that, provided that the economy were to evolve broadly as they anticipated, they judged that it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year,” the Fed’s minutes showed.

The labor market is the heart of the Fed’s decision on when to get tapering underway, but the central bank believes there is still ground to cover on jobs. 

“Most participants judged that the Committee’s standard of ‘substantial further progress’ toward the maximum-employment goal had not yet been met,” according to the Fed’s minutes. “Most participants remarked that this standard had been achieved with respect to the price-stability goal.”  

The first mention of a potential timeline has heightened focus on next week’s symposium at Jackson Hole, where Fed chairman Jerome Powell is expected to elaborate on the central bank’s tapering plans.   

Monetary policy aside, a slew of retailers including Lowe’s and Target reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street expectations, but saw mixed reaction from investors.

Lowe’s Companies (NYSE:) jumped 11% as the home improvement retailer lifted its full-year outlook after reporting quarterly results that topped analysts expectations.

Target Corporation (NYSE:), meanwhile, also delivered quarterly results that beat on the top and bottom lines, but its shares fell 1%.

Krispy Kreme (NASDAQ:), which made its return to the stock market last month, fell 4% after the doughnut chain reported mixed quarterly results as earnings fell short, but revenue beat Wall Street expectations.

Energy stocks, meanwhile, shrugged off intraday losses despite weaker oil prices amid data that showed a larger-than-expected decline in weekly inventories, but an unexpected build in gasoline inventories.  

Crude inventories dropped by 3.234 million barrels last week, compared with analysts’ expectations for a draw of 1.055 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

In big tech, Amazon (NASDAQ:) was in the spotlight after the e-commerce giant reportedly warned certain third-party sellers that antitrust laws approved in June could limit their ability to sell on Amazon.

Apple (NASDAQ:), Microsoft (NASDAQ:, Facebook (NASDAQ:), and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) traded mixed.

On the vaccine front, The U.S. government said it plans to make Covid-19 vaccine booster shots widely available starting on Sept. 20 amid concerns over the rising Covid-19 infections.

Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:) was lower, while Pfizer Inc (NYSE:), and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:) traded flat and nearly 3% lower, respectively. The boosters would be for those who received the Pfizer or Moderna shots, but not yet for those who received Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:)’s one-dose vaccine.

In other news, ViacomCBS and NBCUniversal-parent Comcast (NASDAQ:) teamed up on a new streaming service, “SkyShowtime,” expected to launch in Europe next year. ViacomCBS (NASDAQ:) jumped 5%.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*