On Monday, U.S. stocks battled to find direction as investors prepared for a deluge of economic data this week with the main focus on U.S. consumer prices to evaluate the outlook of the Fed’s monetary policy path.
Most of the Magnificent Seven stocks were down and Tesla led the losses, dropping 1.8%. Nvidia was 4% higher and was set to add close to $100B in market cap.
Both the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 recouped most of their losses by last week’s close after the benchmark index recorded the biggest one-day percentage decline in close to two years on recession fears and the unwinding of yen carry trade positions.
Investors will likely be on edge until the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) reading is released on Wednesday, which will likely show headline inflation in July rose 0.2% on a monthly basis but stayed unchanged at 3% on a year-on-year basis.
Thursday’s July U.S. retail sales will likely show slight growth, and investors believe that any weakness in the data may reignite fears of a potential recession.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 31.22 points, or 0.19%, to 16,776.53, the S&P 500 lost 2.63 points, or 0.05%, to 5,340.65 and the dow jones Industrial Average fell 165.85 points, or 0.42%, to 39,331.69.
