Wall Street opts for caution ahead of inflation data and corporate earnings. The New York Stock Exchange ended with mixed results on Monday, as the upcoming release of U.S. inflation figures and a wave of corporate earnings reports prompted investors to remain cautious.
The Dow Jones rose 0.38%, while the Nasdaq index fell 0.44%, and the broader S&P 500 index remained essentially flat (-0.06%).
“Investors are, in a sense, holding their breath, waiting for confirmation that the market was right to reach a new all-time high,” a few days ago, suggests Sam Stovall, an analyst at the firm CFRA, in comments to AFP.
On the macroeconomic front, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September is expected on Wednesday, followed by the Producer Price Index (PPI) on Thursday.
“If the inflation data continues to surprise with its strength, that would not be a good thing—because, for now, Wall Street assumes that the Fed (the U.S. central bank) will not raise interest rates at its October meeting,” Stovall notes.