Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on August 20, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
The S&P 500 sat within striking distance of record levels on Wednesday as investors look ahead to commentary from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expected later this week.
The broad index hovered around its flatline, sitting close to a half percentage point below the all-time intraday high set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 46 points and has flickered near flat, as has the Nasdaq Composite.
If Thursday ends in the green, the S&P 500 and technology-heavy Nasdaq would clinch their 10th positive day of the last 11. The blue-chip Dow could notch its seventh winning day of eight.
Market participants are turning their attention to Powell’s expected speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday, hoping for further insight into rate policy. Traders are currently pricing in a 100% chance of a decrease to borrowing costs next month, per the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, but they are divided when it comes to how large the reduction will be.
“The volatility from the past month has settled as macro fears subside, expectations were reset, and investors used the weakness as an opportunity to add to risk exposure. The next catalyst for markets is Fed data … this likely results in a wait-and-see approach until Friday,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide.
That will follow minutes from the Fed’s July gathering released Wednesday. They indicated that most participants at the central bank’s meeting said it would “likely” be appropriate to lower the key interest rate at September meeting — if data continues to come in as expected.
Despite some choppiness, the three major indexes are all on pace to finish the week higher. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 have added about 2% and 1.5%, respectively. The Dow has risen 0.8%.
In corporate news, software company Snowflake dropped 10% even after it beat quarterly expectations and slightly raised its full-year product revenue guidance. Urban Outfitters slid more than 13% after the retailer’s same-store sales in the second quarter disappointed analysts.
