By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended mostly flat on Wednesday in volatile trading after labor market data and comments from a Federal Reserve official reinforced the case for an interest rate cut.
Labor Department data showed U.S. job openings fell to a three-and-a-half-year low in July, signaling a continued easing of labor market tensions that could strengthen the Fed's position to begin cutting rates at its next meeting later this month.
The Nasdaq and Dow Jones benchmarks closed unchanged in a volatile session, with utility stocks leading gains while energy and health care stocks were the main drag. Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded lower.
“To me, even if the index is flat or down a couple basis points, the market is actually up,” said Eric Beyrich, co-chief investment officer at Sound Income Strategies. “The data is always being skewed, so to speak, by the big tech companies that are driving everything.”
Shares of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NV), whose market value suffered a massive $279 billion drop on Tuesday, rose 0.2%. The US Department of Justice has sent a subpoena to the artificial intelligence chip company as it deepens its investigation into the company’s antitrust practices, according to a report.
Other large-cap growth stocks such as Apple (NASDAQ:) fell 1% and amazon.com (NASDAQ:) fell 1.8%. Tesla (NASDAQ:) rose nearly 5%.
Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve, said Wednesday that the central bank should not keep interest rates too high for longer because it risks causing too much harm to employment. He added that waiting until inflation falls back to the Fed's 2% target before cutting rates would “risk causing disruptions in the labor market that could inflict unnecessary pain and suffering.”
On Tuesday, all three Wall Street indexes suffered their biggest daily loss since early August as investors dumped technology-related stocks in a dismal start to September, historically the worst month for stocks.
“Utility stocks rose today on weak jobs data that simply reinforces the idea that when the Federal Reserve meets in a few weeks, they will cut rates by at least 25 basis points,” Beyrich added.
The S&P 500 index rose 5.11 points, or 0.09%, to 5,523.82, the Acer Aspire 2018 and the Acer Aspire 2019 rose 3.38 points, or 0.00%, to 40,936.13, the S&P 500 lost 5.11 points, or 0.09%, to 5,523.82 and the lost 1.55 points, or 0.00%, to 17,135.93.
The index rebounded from its biggest one-day drop since the COVID-19 pandemic in the previous session and rose 0.72%.
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) rose 3.5% after naming former Nvidia executive Keith Strier as its senior vice president of global artificial intelligence markets.
Zscaler (NASDAQ:) forecast fiscal 2025 revenue and profit below estimates, sending its shares down nearly 18%. Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:) plunged 24% after the discount store operator cut its annual sales and profit forecasts.
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