By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are coasting toward the finish of Wall Street’s latest winning month on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% in early trading, but the main measure of the U.S. stock market’s health remains on track for a fifth straight winning month after setting a record last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 27 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.
Oil-related companies fell again as the price of crude added more losses to its weak week. Halliburton dropped 2%. That helped offset a 15.6% jump for CoreWeave, which said Meta Platforms will pay it at least $14.2 billion for a new order for cloud computing power made under its existing service agreement.
A couple reports on the economy coming later in the morning could shift trading. One will show how confident U.S. consumers are feeling when the job market has slowed and inflation has remained higher than anyone would like.
A second report will show how many job openings U.S. employers were advertising at the end of August. The hope on Wall Street is that it will show a number that’s not too high nor too small, one balanced enough to keep the Federal Reserve on track to continue cutting interest rates.
The Fed just delivered its first cut of the year, and officials have penciled in more through the end of next year. The central bank is trying to give the job market a boost after keeping rates steady for months.
But if data on the job market comes in too strong, it could make the Fed less willing to cut rates. If the numbers are too weak, meanwhile, they could mean a recession is coming.
Either extreme would likely hurt the stock market, which has run to records from a low in April in large part on expectations that the Fed will cut rates several times. The stock market is is already facing heavy criticism for being too expensive after prices ran so high.
Another potential wild card is hanging over the market. The U.S. government seems to be heading toward a shutdown at the end of the day following another political impasse in Washington.
The economy and stock market have made it through past shutdowns without much wear, but another one would likely cause delays for several important economic reports, including a release due on Friday about monthly job creation.
That could upset Wall Street when it’s particularly nervous about the state of the economy and what it means for the potential for cuts to rates. The Department of Labor has already said that its Bureau of Labor Statistics will completely cease operations if there’s a lapse.
On Wall Street, Vail Resorts dropped 4.6% after reporting a larger loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected and saying it’s seeing limited sales growth for the upcoming ski season’s passes.
Lamb Weston jumped 6.3% after the supplier of frozen French fries and other potato products reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in mostly modest trading across Europe and Asia.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.12% from 4.15% late Monday.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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