By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks inched higher on Wednesday amid range-bound trading after investors parsed a steep downward revision in payrolls, and the release of the minutes from the most recent meeting of the Federal Reserve cemented expectations for a September rate cut.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were in positive territory amid choppy trading, with the Nasdaq out front. The blue-chip Dow was essentially unchanged.
The Fed released minutes from its most recent monetary policy meeting in July, at which members of the Federal Open Market Committee elected to keep the key interest rate unchanged.
The July meeting occurred before the disappointing employment report for that month and a host of economic reports pointing to cooling inflation and a softening but resilient economy.
Even so, the minutes suggest Fed officials were already strongly leaning toward a rate cut at the meeting scheduled for September.
They also set the stage for the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium to convene on Thursday, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak on Friday.
“(The minutes) set us up for Powell’s speech on Friday, which won’t tell us exactly what’s going to happen at the September meeting, but it will give us a framework,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Seattle. “The other thing the market will be listening for in his speech is the balance between inflation and the labor market.”
In economic news, the Labor Department released its preliminary benchmark revision to payrolls data for the 12 months through March 2024.
The revision lowered the 2.9 million payroll adds originally reported by 818,000. It was the steepest preliminary downward revision since the global financial crisis, and suggested that the apparent softening in the labor market could be more pronounced than previously assumed.
“The good news is it was directionally consistent with expectations,” Haworth added. “And it supports the narrative the market has been building, that the labor market is softening and the Fed will need to start cutting rates.”
At 2:08 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10.54 points, or 0.03%, to 40,845.51, the S&P 500 gained 20.25 points, or 0.36%, to 5,617.37 and the Nasdaq Composite added 90.64 points, or 0.51%, to 17,907.58.
Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, consumer discretionary shares were enjoying the largest percentage gains, while financials lagged.
Target raised its 2024 profit forecast and posted its first quarterly increase in same-store sales in over a year, sending the retailer’s stock surging 12.6%.
TJX Cos rose 6.3% after the discount retailer lifted its annual profit forecast.
Macy’s lowered its annual net sales forecast, sending shares of the department store chain sliding 12.0%.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com dropped 5.3% after Walmart, the company’s biggest shareholder, has sold its stake in the firm.
Ford Motor announced it was shaking up its electric vehicle plans. Its stock rose 1.2% following the announcement.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.96-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.21-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 42 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 72 new highs and 59 new lows.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp in New YorkAdditional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Johann M Cherian in BengaluruEditing by Matthew Lewis)
