4:20pm: Bracing for earnings
US stocks ended on mixed footing Tuesday ahead of a crucial Fed policy meeting and significant Big Tech earnings reports after the bell.
The Nasdaq tumbled 1.3% on the day to finish at 17,147 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.5% at 5,436.
The Dow had a winning day, up 0.5% at 40,743.
Nvidia's 7% decline weighed heavily on semiconductor stocks, adding to the market's volatility.
Investors are closely watching upcoming reports from Microsoft, reporting today, and Apple, Amazon, and Meta later in the week, as well as the Fed's interest-rate decision and the July jobs report, to gauge the market's direction amid AI investment concerns.
12:15pm: Focus shifts to Fed and tech earnings
Markets were down at the midday mark on Tuesday as investors awaited earnings reports from major companies like Microsoft and AMD.
The Nasdaq dropped around 1%, marked by a 6% dip in Nvidia shares.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average maintained slight gains of 0.1%.
Nvidia’s drop has “cast a shadow over Wall Street,” IG’s Chris Beauchamp noted.
“The Nasdaq 100 continues to hover around 19,000, hobbled today by another lurch down for Nvidia,” Beauchamp commented. “The next three days will likely decide the fate of the index, given the importance of the earnings due out.”
This week is pivotal with the Federal Reserve's policy decision, the July jobs report, and results from key tech giants shaping market expectations. Investors are keenly watching for signs of significant AI investments paying off and are weighing potential interest rate cuts against concerns over Big Tech performance.
Meanwhile, the Fed's July policy meeting is underway, with no change in borrowing costs expected but potential groundwork for a September rate cut.
11am: Labor market gently cooling
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) numbers for June show labor markets are "cooling in a measured way", says Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial.
The June quits rate within some lower-paying jobs fell "as these workers are less likely to voluntarily leave one job in search of another", he says, which "is a sign that the labor market is cooling. However, quits rates continue to rise in professional and business services."
Hiring activity has slowed, especially in construction and hospitality sectors, Roach notes, while also highlighting fresh data from the Conference Board.
This showed more consumers reported the labor market has slowed and jobs are harder to get, and that buying plans for large-ticketed items have deteriorated in recent months, "suggesting a slowdown in consumer spending".
The bottom line, says Roach is that "business activity appears to be a bit weaker as consumers have pulled back a bit on buying plans for big ticket items such as autos and homes.
"If the labor market does soften, we should expect consumer spending to slow, especially for discretionary items. Investors should anticipate the Fed to prepare markets for a rate cut at the September meeting."
10.26am: Stocks wobble, jobs market stable/in paralysis
US stocks have shown a bit more nerves since strutting higher at the open, with big names like Nvidia, Tesla, Broadcom, ARM and CrowdStrike among the fallers.
The Nasdaq Composite index is now in the red, while the gains for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones are down to 0.1% and 0.25%.
PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) surged 8% after a strong second-quarter earnings report.
Investors continue to favour small caps too, with the Russell 2000 up 0.56%.
Earlier, JOLTS job openings fell marginally in June, with data for the prior month revised higher, pointing to continued resilience of the labour market.
The private sector hiring rate fell to 3.7% in the latest survey, while the quits rate also fell to the lowest since 2018.
9.46am: Stocks open higher, led by Dow and Russell
US stocks have opened higher, after housing market data came in weaker than expected.
The Dow Jones blue chips and Russell 2000 small cap indices are both up 0.5%, while the S&P 500 has advanced 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite has inched 0.2% higher, paring an initial jump.
Earlier, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index eased to 1% for May, from 1.4% and the official house price index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency eased to flat month-on-month from 0.3%.
The next data due today is JOLTs job openings and the CB consumer confidence index.
7.50am: Nasdaq tipped to rise in mixed start for New York
US futures are pointing to another mixed session in New York.
Dow futures are just below flat, but S&P 500 futures are up 0.22% and Nasdaq 100 futures are indicating a 0.35% rise.
Yesterday saw a relatively flat start from US stock indices to what is seen as a big week for markets.
"There’s certainly going to be stacks of fresh information to assimilate, starting with Microsoft’s earnings after tonight’s close. Then we have results from Meta tomorrow, followed by Amazon and Apple on Thursday," says market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation.
Aside from earnings, the Federal Reserve begins its monetary policy meeting today, with the verdict coming tomorrow.
No interest rate cut is expected, but some groundwork for what in September is predicted to see the first cut in over four years.