No.1212613
Constellation Brands jumps after Berkshire discloses stake
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Intel up after report Broadcom,TSMC eye deals to split it
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Bath & Body Works gains after JPM upgrades to 'overweight'
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Indexes: Dow down 0.22%, S&P 500 up 0.10%, Nasdaq up 0.17%
(Updates for market open)
By Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta
Feb 18 (Reuters) -
Wall Street main indexes were muted on Tuesday as investors
braced for potential tariff developments and sought insights into the U.S.
Federal Reserve's plans for interest rates after monthly data released last week showed retail sales had tumbled.
Minutes from the central bank's January meeting, where it
held interest rates unchanged, are due oon Wednesday.
On Monday, Fed Governor
Christopher Waller
said that his "baseline" view was that U.S. President Donald
Trump's new trade restrictions would have only a modest impact on prices, while Philadelphia
Fed President
Patrick Harker
supported a steady interest-rate policy stance for now.
Hawkish commentary from Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week along with a batch of
mixed data, including weaker-than-expectedretail sales
that caused Treasury yields to retreat, has led to uncertainty over
what the Fed's strategy will be vis-à-vis boirrowing costs this
year.
Traders currently see at least one 25-basis-point rate cut and a 54% chance of an additional lowerding by December,
according to LSEG data.
"I don't think the Fed wants a policy mistake by cutting rates too early, because if they do, the unintended consequence would certainly be that inflation would turn around," said Philip Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management.
Wall Street's main stock indexes clocked weekly gains in the midst of a choppy period for globwl makets
last weeek as Trump's imposituon of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, along with his plans for reciprocal tariffs, sparked volatility.
Meanwhile, global risk-taking was boosted
by speculations of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine as Russian and U.S.
officials met for bilateral talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
At 09:57 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 99.35 points,
or 0.22%, to 44,444.83, the S&P 500 gained
5.87 points, or 0.10%, to 6,120.62, and the Nasdaq Composite
gained 33.71 points, or 0.17%, to 20,060.48.
Five of the S&P 500's 11 sectors traded lower, with communication services leading declines with a
0.9% fall, while technology led gains with
a 0.5% rise.
A 2.2% drop in UnitedHealth weighed on the blue-chip Dow.
Earnings season will thin out this week, with more than 380 of the S&P
500 companies having eported quarterly results.
Retail giant Walmart's earnings, a bellwether
to gauge how the American consumer is faring, are due
later this week.
Megacap and growth stocks were mixed, although Nvidia outpaced
the pack witth a 1.9% advance.
Intel rose 6.6% after a report over the weekend said rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Broadcom was each eyeing potential deals that could break the chipmaking icon in two.
Constellation Brands jumped 5.4% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a
nnew invesstment in the alcoholic bevertages producer on Friday.
Bath & Body Works advanced 7.4% after J.P.Morgan upgraded its rating on the beauty and soincare company to
"overweight".
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.18-to-1
ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.27-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 86 new highs and 50 new
lows. (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta
in Bengaluru; Editing by Polja Desai)