4:12pm: Record-breaking session
The three major stock indexes finished the day slightly higher ahead of the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday, during which the stock market will be closed.
The S&P 500 added 0.3% at 5,487 points, the Dow Jones was up 0.2% at 38,834 points and the Nasdaq added 5 points at 17,862 points.
This represented the S&P 500’s 31st record close for the year, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq notching its 7th straight record close as chipmaker NVIDIA surpassed Microsoft to become the most valuable public company in the world.
NVIDIA’s shares closed up 3.5% at $135.58 giving it a market capitalization of about $3.34 trillion to Microsoft’s $3.32 trillion.
2.45pm: NVIDIA rally continues
NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, ETR:NVD) is now the most valuable public company with a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion as its shares added 3.7% at $135.87.
The chipmaker has taken the top spot from tech giant Microsoft, which has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, just days after it climbed past Apple into second place.
NVIDIA stock has surged more than 180% in the year to date on strong demand for its processors for AI applications, while Microsoft has gained about 20%.
There remained little other action on Wall Street on Tuesday afternoon, with the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones flat at 38,792 and 17,855 points respectively and the S&P 500 up 0.2% at 5,482 points.
12:05pm: Quiet day on Wall Street
US stocks were little changed at noon despite a retail sales data miss.
The S&P 500 was modestly higher, up 0.2% at 5,482 points, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq were flat at 38,792 and 17,855 points respectively.
IG senior market analyst Axel Rudolph highlighted that trading volumes were light ahead of the US Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday.
“This might explain why US indices are mixed and why there was little reaction to Citigroup hiking its S&P 500 year-end target to 5,600 points, US retail sales rising less than expected and US industrial output rising more than forecast,” he said.
Meanwhile, oil, gas, and natural gas prices continue to rise, with gold and silver also moving higher.
"The oil price is in the process of breaking through significant technical resistance while gasoline and natural gas prices also surge, the latter by 2.5%,” Rudolph commented.
“Gold and silver prices are mixed as cotton prices fall to an over three and a half-year low amid prospects of increased supply as favourable weather conditions persist throughout the entire US cotton belt."
10am: Mixed open for stocks
US stock indexes are mixed at the open after weak retail sales data emerged and brought louder calls for a Fed rate cut.
The Nasdaq Composite index flirted either side of the flat line in early trades, slipping 17 points lower after the first half hour.
Initial gains for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices were both small, both up around 0.1%.
The weaker US core retail sales data across the board, with weaker revisions, "will fuel more calls for rate cuts in 2024", says Ryan Brandham, head of global capital markets at Validus Risk Management.
"The Fed will need to be confident that inflation is on path to return to target before heeding these calls," he said.
US industrial production data was stronger than expected, though, up 0.9% in May, above the 0.3% consensus estimate.
9am: US retail sales
US retail sales were weaker than expected in the past two months, leading to louder calls for a sooner cut to interest rates from the US Federal Reserve.
Retail sales rose 0.1% in May compared to the preceding month, according to the US Census Bureau, which was below the 0.2% rise expected.
April’s figure was also revised down to a 0.2% monthly decline from a flat reading initially.
"Consumer spending is slowing because real incomes growth is moderating and because some consumers are becoming credit constrained amid elevated interest rates and rising credit card utilization," said Michael Pearce at Oxford Economics.
7.57am: Mixed start expected for Wall Street
Wall Street is set for a mixed start on Tuesday after the week got off to a strong start, with record closing highs for both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
Futures for the tech-laden Nasdaq 100 were trading up 0.14% ahead of the open, with S&P 500 futures flat and those for the Dow Jones down 0.1%.
European markets have had a positive morning while Asian equity benchmarks mostly finished higher.
Stocks are "defying all the odds that a recession may be looming or that the economy may be weakening or that rates could stay higher for longer if the data in the days ahead surprises", says Kenny Polcari, chief market strategist at Slatestone Wealth.
He notes that today we are going to get five more talking Fed heads – Dallas Fed president Lorie Logan, Richmond president Tommy Barkin, Chicago's Austan Goolsbee, St Louis' Berty Musalem and Fed governor Adriana Kugler.
"It’s too chaotic," says Polcari. "If they don’t support the newest narrative, they just cause more chaos in the markets."
Elsewhere today there will plenty of US macro data, including official retail sales and the Redbook retail survey, plus industrial production, capacity utilization and manufacturing production.
Market analyst David Morrison also notes "a lot of chatter about an upcoming rebalancing in an ETF which affects Apple and NVIDIA".
This refers to one of the world's largest technology exchange-traded funds, Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund, which will need to carry out a rebalancing exercise, reducing its exposure to Apple and increasing it for Nvidia after the growth of the chipmaker.