Wall St slips as mixed data fuels Fed policy uncertainty

By Sruthi Shankar and Shristi Achar A

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes slipped on Tuesday as investors assessed odds of an interest rate pause by the Federal Reserve at its policy meeting next week, with mixed economic data adding to uncertainty around the rate path.

The U.S. services sector barely grew in May as new orders slowed, data on Monday showed, pushing a measure of prices paid by businesses for inputs to a three-year low.

While that signaled the Fed’s monetary tightening was cooling the world’s largest economy, it followed strong monthly jobs data last week, clouding the outlook for the Fed’s policy.

“The difference between skip and pause and it’s impact on the next meeting is what investors are kind of wrestling with,” said Paul Nolte, senior wealth adviser and market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest.

“The market is on pause now until we get to the Fed meeting and the inflation data.”

Inflation data due next week is expected to show consumer prices cooled slightly on a month-over-month basis in May but core prices are expected to have remained elevated.

Some Fed officials last week backed the view that the central bank could keep rates steady at its June 13-14 meeting and look for more signs of whether the economy was cooling or higher rates were warranted. The Fed officials have entered a “blackout” period.

Fed fund futures indicate traders have priced in a 75% chance that the central bank will hold interest rates in the 5%-5.25% range, according to CMEGroup’s Fedwatch tool. However, they see 50% odds of another 25-basis-point rate hike in July.

At 9:59 a.m. ET, the was down 64.72 points, or 0.19%, at 33,498.14, the was down 5.06 points, or 0.12%, at 4,268.73, and the was down 23.61 points, or 0.18%, at 13,205.82.

U.S. stocks have advanced in recent weeks, with a rally in megacap stocks, a stronger-than-expected earnings season and hopes of a pause in interest rate hikes pushing the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq to fresh 2023 highs on Friday.

Among the 11 major S&P sectors, technology and energy fell the most, while financials rose.

Coinbase (NASDAQ:) Global plunged 15.2% after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued the crypto exchange, accusing it of illegally operating without having first registered with the regulator.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:) extended losses to drop 1.0%, a day after the iPhone maker unveiled a costly augmented-reality headset called the Vision Pro, barging into a market dominated by Meta.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) rose 3.6% after Piper Sandler raised the price target on the stock to $150, the second highest on Wall Street, as per Refintiv data.

Oil stocks fell, with Exxon Mobil (NYSE:) and Chevron (NYSE:) dropping about 1% each as crude prices declined nearly 2% on concerns about the global economy. [O/R]

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.50-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.24-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded five new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 32 new highs and 38 new lows.