An early gain fades on Wall Street as stocks turn mixed
A morning gain on Wall Street was fading away in afternoon trading, leaving major indexes mixed
BEIJING — A morning gain on Wall Street was fading away in afternoon trading Wednesday, leaving major indexes mixed. Investors are still trying to parse emerging signs of inflation and judge whether they will be transitory, as the Federal Reserve thinks they will.
The S&P 500 remains slightly below the record high it set more than a week ago. The benchmark index has recovered all its losses from last week, when the Fed’s comments on eventually tapering its support for the economy raised anxiety levels in the markets.
The S&P 500 was little changed as of 1:04 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20points, or 0.1%, to 33,916 points and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.
A broad mix of companies that rely on direct consumer spending, including cruise lines and clothing retailers, made solid gains. Banks also made broad gains and rising crude oil prices pushed energy stocks higher.
There is still a lot of churn within the broader market. Slightly more stocks were rising than falling within the S&P 500. Health care companies were among the sectors sliding lower. Technology stocks broadly edged lower and weighed on the market.
On Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank still believes the current increases in inflation will prove to be temporary. Prices for commodities, cars, and a range of other goods have been rising as demand outpaces supply amid a quickly recovering economy. The central bank has said that will eventually level off and ease rising inflation.
Investors are concerned that if the Fed is wrong and higher inflation is longer lasting, the central bank will then have to ease up on its support for the economy, which include slowing its $120 billion of monthly bond purchases, which are helping to keep mortgages and other longer-term borrowing cheap.
Investors will get another piece of data on Friday to gauge rising inflation when the Commerce Department releases its personal income and spending report for May.
Bond yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.49% from 1.47% late Tuesday.
Homebuilders slipped following a report that showed sales of new homes in May fell short of economists forecasts. Lennar fell 1.1% and D.R. Horton fell 1%.
European markets were mostly lower. The DAX in Germany slipped 1.2%, the CAC 40 in France fell 0.9%. The FTSE 100 in London fell 0.2%. Asian markets were mixed.
