NEW YORK (September 5): U.S. stocks ended slightly lower in choppy trading on Wednesday, following remarks from Federal Reserve officials that supported labor market data and the rationale for cutting interest rates.
U.S. job openings fell to a 3-1/2-year low in July, Labor Department figures show, as the tight labor market continues to ease and the Fed looks set to begin cutting interest rates at its next meeting later this month. This indicates that the movement may become stronger.
The benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower, while the Dow ended slightly higher. Utilities and consumer staples stocks led the gains, while energy and technology stocks were the main decliners. Six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors ended lower.
“September is always a tough month, but the economy is holding up,” said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist at Bell Curve Trading in Boston. “Consumers and the labor market are fine. Overall, we’re still bullish.”
Nvidia’s shares closed 1.7% lower after suffering a sharp decline in market capitalization of US$279 billion (RM1.21 trillion) on Tuesday. Shortly before the deal closed, the company denied media reports that it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Other mega-growth stocks such as Apple also fell, ending the day down 0.9%. Microsoft fell 0.1%, Alphabet fell 0.5% and Amazon.com fell 1.7%. Tesla stock rose 4.2%.
Atlanta Fed President Rafael Bostic said Wednesday that the central bank should not keep interest rates too high for too long or risk having a huge negative impact on employment. He added that waiting until inflation returns to the Fed’s 2% target before cutting rates “could disrupt the labor market and cause unnecessary pain and suffering.”
In early trading, all three Wall Street indexes posted their biggest one-day losses since early August as investors dumped technology stocks at the start of September, historically the worst month for stocks. It fell to
“Utility stocks are rising today on the back of the weak jobs report, which is expected to cut interest rates by at least 25 basis points at the Federal Reserve’s meeting in about two weeks,” said Eric Beirich, Co-Chief Investment. It just confirms the possibility.” Director of Sound Income Strategies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.04 points, or 0.09%, to 40,974.97, the S&P 500 fell 8.86 points, or 0.16%, to 5,520.07, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 52.00 points, or 0.30%, to 17,084.30. .
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Stock Index rebounded from the previous session’s biggest single-day drop since the coronavirus pandemic to end at 0.25%.
Advanced Micro Devices rose nearly 3% after the company named former Nvidia executive Keith Strier as senior vice president of global artificial intelligence markets.
Zscaler fell nearly 19% after the company said it expected fiscal 2025 sales and profits to be lower than expected. Dollar Tree fell 22% after the discount store operator cut its annual sales and profit forecasts.
Total trading volume across U.S. exchanges was about 10.5 billion shares, down from the 20-day moving average of about 11 billion shares.
