Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, June 30, 2023.
Source: NYSE
Stocks wavered Thursday after four straight days of gains as Wall Street was set to wrap up a tough month.
The Dow slipped 16 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 added 0.2% while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.5%.
Investors are coming off a positive session, with the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq notching a four-day winning streak. Those gains helped the major indexes trim their monthly losses. All three benchmarks are down more than 1% month to date, but have trended higher in recent days as traders signal a late August rally.
Traders on Thursday also pored over new U.S. inflation data. The core personal consumption expenditures index increased 0.2% month-over-month in July and 4.2% year over year, matching estimates from economists polled by Dow Jones. The core PCE is a closely watched inflation indicator by the Federal Reserve.
“Markets are taking the inflation report in stride,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial. “Although somewhat disappointing within the details of today’s report, the Fed will not likely change its plan to keep rates unchanged at the September meeting.”
Salesforce mitigated some of the Dow’s losses. Shares advanced more than 3.4% after the software company announced fiscal second-quarter results and third-quarter guidance Wednesday that exceeded analysts’ expectations.
Investors will now turn their attention to non-farm payroll data due out Friday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast 170,000 additions. Traders are holding onto hope that the report will indicate that the economy is slowing meaningfully, and ultimately give the central bank reason to pause benchmark interest rate hikes.
Correction: A previous version included an inaccurate description of the PCE indicator. The story has also been corrected to reflect the correct month for the dataset.