By Ambar Warrick and Noel Randewich
(Reuters) – Wall Street was mixed on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve released minutes of its most recent monetary policy meeting, while Gap and Nordstrom plunged following weak quarterly reports.
Nordstrom tumbled 29% and Gap slumped 23%, after the two retailers reported weak quarterly results and warned of supply chain problems ahead of the crucial U.S. holiday shopping season.
The S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector index rose 0.1%, while the retail index was flat after data showed U.S. consumer spending increased more than expected in October.
The so-called core PCE price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, also accelerated in October.
Nvidia rose 2% as the graphics chipmaker bounced back from a selloff in Big Tech stocks early this week.
Various Federal Reserve policymakers said they would be open to speeding up elimination of their bond-buying program and move more quickly to raise interest rates if high inflation held, minutes of the U.S. central bank’s last policy meeting showed.
Earlier, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said she could see the argument for accelerating the pace of tapering, especially if inflation remains elevated and jobs growth stays strong.
Other data showed weekly jobless claims fell and third-quarter GDP was revised higher, while a University of Michigan survey showed consumer sentiment improved in November.
Coronavirus infections broke records in parts of Europe on Wednesday, with investors worried the continent was again the epicenter of a pandemic that has prompted new curbs on movement.
“Equities are under pressure from a combination of rising interest rates, more cautionary news on the earnings front, and also from COVID developments in Europe,” said Greg Bassuk, chief executive at AXS Investments in Port Chester, New York.
The U.S. stock market will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, and it will have a shortened session on Friday.
Real estate led among 11 S&P 500 sector indexes with a gain of over 1%.
In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.23% at 35,732.8 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.02% to 4,689.76.
The Nasdaq Composite added 0.01% to 15,776.00.
Tesla Inc rose 0.7%. In his latest of several recent share sales, CEO Elon Musk sold 934,091 shares of the electric vehicle maker worth $1.05 billion after exercising options to buy 2.15 million shares.
Shares of PC makers HP Inc and Dell Technologies jumped 11% and 5%, respectively, after they logged a more than four-fold rise in quarterly profits amid increasing demand for personal computers.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.05-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.05-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 24 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 46 new highs and 224 new lows.
(Additional reporting by Ambar Warrick and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and David Gregorio)
