U.S. stock indices were slightly higher on Monday, with markets taking a breather after a week of strong gains amid growing expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Caution mainly gripped the markets ahead of several important events this week, most notably the results of NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA), one of the market’s most heavily weighted companies, with results due on Wednesday. The PCE price index data, the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge, will also be released near the end of the week.
S&P 500 futures were up about 0.1% to 5,661.75 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.2% to 19,835.7 points. Dow Jones futures were little changed at 41,289.0 points.
Nvidia’s Results, AI Recovery in Focus
On Wednesday, Nvidia will release its results for the first three months of July, focusing on whether the company has been able to maintain its stellar earnings growth rate due to the artificial intelligence push.
The chipmaker’s results and estimates will also provide further signals on the state of demand for artificial intelligence, coming just after a series of mixed results from other technology heavyweights cast doubt on whether last year’s market rally, driven by artificial intelligence, could be justified. Heavyweights such as Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) had fallen after their second-quarter earnings reports.
Nvidia, the company that manufactures the most high-tech AI chips on the market, was one of the main beneficiaries of the increased interest in artificial intelligence, doubling its value and becoming one of the most valuable companies on Wall Street this year.
However, this trend will come under scrutiny on Wednesday. Earnings from other chipmaking titans, such as TSMC (TSM) and ASML (ASML), released in July, indicated that chipmakers at least continue to profit from AI demand.
PCE Inflation May Impact the September Rate Cut Expectations
This week, attention will also focus on data from the PCE price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. The reading will be released on Friday and is likely to provide further signals about the path of interest rates.
Comments made by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday cemented estimates for a September rate cut, even though CME Fedwatch indicated that market traders were split on a 25 or 50 basis point reduction.
It is possible that the PCE inflation reading will influence bets on the extent of the September cut.
Dow Jones and S&P 500 Hover Near All-Time Highs
Optimism regarding interest rate cuts sent Wall Street indexes to near record highs on Friday.
The S&P 500 rose 1.2% to 5,634.62 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 1.1% to 41,175.08 points. The Nasdaq Composite rose nearly 1.5% to 17,877.79 points.
While the Dow Jones and S&P 500 were approaching recent highs, the Nasdaq continued to trade below its all-time high achieved earlier in the year, as a mix of profit-taking and doubts about the artificial intelligence rally hit all technology stocks in July.
Rate cut expectations also caused traders to sell technology stocks and move into sectors that are more sensitive from an economic and value-oriented perspective.
