On Monday stocks on Wall Street traded mixed as investors waited for a crucial labor report, more tech earnings, and a Federal Reserve meeting during the week.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 80 points or 0.5%, the S&P 500 climbed 8 points or 0.2%, and the dow jones Industrial Average fell 75 points or 0.2%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest meeting will conclude on Wednesday and is generally expected to not change interest rates.
Investors will be focused on clues from the central bank that it is planning to start cutting interest rates soon, amid rising signs that inflation had eased in recent months.
According to economists at Goldman Sachs, recent comments by Federal Reserve officials indicate they will likely keep rates unchanged at the meeting, but the likelihood of a first interest rate cut has increased.
The main factor pushing the FOMC closer to cutting rates is May and June’s favorable inflation data. After firmer inflation figures in Q1, mainly attributed to typical month-to-month noise and residual seasonality, Q2 saw significant improvement in inflation news.
The CME Fedwatch tool showed traders have been pricing in a 0.25% cut by the Fed in Sept.
Earnings reports from some of the largest Wall Street companies will also be released this week, including Microsoft and apple .
