NEW YORK, June 26 — Wall Street’s main indexes looked set for a muted open today as megacaps dipped and a momentum in chip stocks fizzled out, with investors awaiting a crucial inflation report this week.
AI chip leader Nvidia slipped 0.7 per cent, back in losses after a selloff that wiped out US$430 billion (RM20.3 trillion) market value and weighed on the broader technology sector.
Other chip stocks including Broadcom, Qualcomm and Arm Holdings also pared strong early gains. Micron Technology rose 2.3 per cent ahead of its quarterly results due after the closing bell.
“The market is trying to figure out in real time whether it needs to focus on the biggest three stocks - Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft - or is it time for the other 497 stocks to take the baton,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.
“That’s been the debate in markets over the course of the last week or so, and that debate continues today. But I don’t think that question gets answered until we get into the second-quarter earnings season.”
Delivery giant FedEx jumped 14.8 per cent after forecasting fiscal 2025 profit above estimates.
Appliances manufacturer Whirlpool surged about 18 per cent after Reuters reported German engineering group Robert Bosch is weighing a bid for the US appliances manufacturer.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, the S&P 500 information technology index and the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index all notched gains of more than 1 per cent on Tuesday, marking a rebound for those sectors that were instrumental in Wall Street’s rise to fresh record highs.
Several economic data releases are on tap this week, leading up to Friday’s release of the much-anticipated personal consumption expenditures price index - the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.
With the Fed projecting only one interest rate cut in December, all eyes will be on whether the data shows an expected moderation in price pressures.
Market participants see a near 60 per cent chance of a 25-basis point rate cut in September, and about two cuts by the year-end, LSEG’s interest rate probabilities app showed.
At 8:29am ET, Dow e-minis were down 101 points, or 0.26 per cent, S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.75 points, or 0.1 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 2 points, or 0.01 per cent
.Rivian soared 40.1 per cent as German automaker Volkswagen said it will invest up to US$5 billion in the US electric-vehicle maker.
Shares of Southwest Airlines dropped 3.7 per cent after the company cut its forecast for second-quarter unit revenue, citing uneven travel demand.
Albemarle rose 2.7 per cent as the world’s largest lithium producer plans to hold more auctions for the metal used in EV batteries.
Shares of major US banks including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America slipped between 0.4 per cent and 0.6 per cent ahead of the Fed’s release of results from its annual banking sector stress test. — Reuters
