The S&P 500 was relatively unchanged on Tuesday as investors absorbed the latest inflation reading and studied the first earnings reports trickling in for the fourth quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 243.02 points to 49,347.08,
The much-broader index slid 7.23 points to 6,970.04
The NASDAQ poked ahead 4.07 points to 23,737.98.
Investors are also looking to corporate profits to buoy stock prices as fourth-quarter earnings reports kick off. JPMorgan Chase fell more than 1% after CFO Jeremy Barnum signaled that the banking industry could push back against President Donald Trump’s call for credit card price controls. Goldman Sachs followed JPMorgan lower, declining more than 1%.
Delta Air Lines also shed more than 1% on mixed results. Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are due to report later this week.
Stocks had received a boost earlier Tuesday after the December consumer price index report showed that core CPI — excluding food and energy — rose 0.2% on the month and 2.6% on the year, below the 0.3% and 2.8%, respectively, that economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated.
The monthly figure for headline inflation increased 0.3% in December, putting the annual rate at 2.7%. Both figures matched Dow Jones forecasts.
The CPI data came days after the December jobs report showed a somewhat weaker, yet stable, labor market, likely encouraging the Fed to hold off on interest rate cuts at their first meeting of the year later this month. Fed funds futures are pricing in two quarter point cuts this year, starting in June.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dipped slightly, lowering yields to 4.17%, from Monday’s 4.19. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices $1.85 to $61.35 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $27.90 to $4,642.60.
