Stock market today: Wall Street uneven in early trading amid dimming hopes for imminent rate cuts
By YURI KAGEYAMA and MATT OTT
AP Business Writers
Premarket trading is mixed on Wall Street early Thursday as pessimism rises over the timing of a potential interest rate cut in the United States.
Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.4% before the bell while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered between small gains and losses.
Speculation has been growing that the Federal Reserve may wait longer than traders expect to begin cutting interest rates after jacking them drastically higher over the past two years. Lower rates would relax the pressure on the economy and financial system, while also boosting prices for investments.
“Investors continue to come back to their senses, and the latter involves trimming the interest rate cut expectations,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
“Robust economic data added to the thinking that, yes, maybe March is too early for the Fed to announce the first rate cut.”
Shares of Discover Financial Services skidded 10.6% before the bell after the credit card issuer badly missed fourth-quarter profit forecasts. Discover said its provision for credit losses — money used to cover defaults — nearly doubled to $1.9 billion last year as consumers struggle to pay off balances amid elevated interest rates.
Shares in Europe rose at midday, with France’s CAC 40 adding 1%, Germany’s DAX up 0.7% and Britain’s FTSE 100 gaining 0.3%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei was little changed, inching down less than 0.1% to finish at 35,466.17. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.6% to 7,346.50. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.2% to 2,440.04. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng reversed earlier losses and added 0.8% to 15,391.79, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% to 2,845.78.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 10 cents to $72.46 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 20 cents to $77.68 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 147.82 Japanese yen from 148.11 yen. The euro cost $1.0887, little changed from $1.0886.
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