Wall St subdued ahead of Powell’s comments; economic data on tap

By Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal

(Reuters) -Wall Street’s main indexes were flat to lower in choppy trading on Monday as investors paused after the previous week’s rally and exercised caution ahead of numerous job reports and comments through the week from Federal Reserve policymakers, including Chair Jerome Powell.

At 11:48 a.m. ET, the fell 146.01 points, or 0.35%, to 42,166.99, the lost 2.59 points, or 0.05%, to 5,735.58 and the gained 8.62 points, or 0.05%, to 18,128.21.

Six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were lower. The materials index was at the bottom with a 1% decline after logging its best week since early December on Friday.

The Dow and the S&P 500 were hovering near all-time highs and were set to log gains for the fifth straight month, bucking a historical trend where September has been weak for equities on average.

Gains sparked by the Fed’s start to monetary policy easing nearly two weeks ago have propped Wall Street’s three main indexes for a quarterly rise as well.

Recent data supporting the trend of moderating price pressures and an overall resilient economy has granted the Fed enough room to focus on the labor market and avoid a recession by reducing borrowing costs further.

Economists say that a mistake in setting interest rates during the last phase of the Fed’s inflation battle could be risky for the economy over the next year as markets await comments from chair Powell at a conference on Monday at 1:55 p.m. ET.

August’s job openings report and September’s pivotal payrolls figure, along with final business activity estimates are on the radar this week.

Traders are now pricing in 59% chances of a 25 bps reduction, as per the CME Group’s (NASDAQ:) FedWatch Tool. Those for a bigger 50 basis point cut stand at 41%, down from 53% last week.

“The market had a weekend to digest data and understand that 50 bps cuts really signal that there is a problem,” Robert Conzo, CEO and managing director at the Wealth Alliance.

“A series of quarter point rate cuts is a good thing to do. It shows that the economy is not doing poorly. We should lower rate at a more measured pace.”

CVS Health (NYSE:) rose 1.9% after a report showed hedge fund Glenview Capital Management will meet top executives at the struggling healthcare company.

Automakers Ford (NYSE:) dropped 2.5% and General Motors (NYSE:) lost 3.9% after European peer Stellantis NV (NYSE:) slashed its annual forecasts.

U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba (NYSE:) and PDD inched up after China’s central bank, in its latest stimulus move, said it would tell banks to lower mortgage rates for existing home loans.

Freeport-MacMoRan dipped 2.8% after a rating downgrade from Scotiabank, weighing on the materials sector.

Markets also kept an eye on a worker union’s port strike on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico that could cause delays and snarl supply chains.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.24-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.12-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 22 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 62 new highs and 58 new lows.