by November 29 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 ended on Tuesday with losses at Apple and Amazon ahead of an upcoming speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that could provide clues as to the magnitude of future rate hikes.
Investors also focused on recent COVID-19 curb protests in China, including at the world’s largest iPhone factory.
Apple (AAPL.O) stock fell 2.1% for the fourth consecutive month.
Powell will address the prospects for the US economy and jobs at a Brookings Institution event on Wednesday. Investors will be looking for clues as to when the Fed will slow the pace of its aggressive rate hikes.
“No one is ready to buy ahead tomorrow when Powell speaks. Everyone’s nervous about what he’s going to say,” said Ron Saba, senior portfolio manager at Horizon Investments in Charlotte.
Amazon (AMZN.O), Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Tesla (TSLA.O) shares each lost more than 1%.
The benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) index is headed for a second straight month of gains in November as bets are piling on that recent inflation readings, indicating a modest slowdown in prices, will prompt the Fed to scale back the extent of its rate hikes.
The Fed has raised interest rates four times in a row by 75 basis points and is expected to decline to 50 basis points in December. FEDWACH
A survey on Tuesday showed that US consumer confidence fell further in November amid ongoing concerns over the rising cost of living.
The latest wave of civil disobedience in mainland China comes as the number of COVID cases hits daily record highs and large swaths of several cities face new lockdowns, further threatening the world’s second-largest economy.
The S&P 500 (.SPNY) energy sector index gained 1.3%, while oil price gains on expectations of an easing of China’s tight COVID controls were later offset by concerns that OPEC+ would leave production unchanged at its upcoming meeting.
The S&P 500 fell 0.16% to end the session at 3,957.60 points.
The Nasdaq fell 0.59% to 10,983.78 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.01% to 33,852.13 points.
Despite the S&P 500 decline, rising issues outweighed falling ones (.AD.SPX) by a ratio of 1.3:1.
The S&P 500 posted three new highs and two new lows; The Nasdaq recorded 68 new highs and 183 new lows.
U.S.-listed shares in Chinese companies Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Pinduoduo Inc (PDD.O) and JD.com Inc rose more than 5% after China expanded equity financing channels for real estate developers.
Shares in Chinese internet company Bilibili Inc rose 22% after releasing positive quarterly results.
Volume on US exchanges was relatively light at 9.6 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 11.2 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Edited by Marguerita Choy and Shounak Dasgupta
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