S&P 500 on Track for 5th Straight Day of Losses as Stocks Slide in Early Trading; Walmart Drops After Earnings

Stocks fell in early trading Thursday as investors brace for tomorrow’s highly anticipated speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was down 0.3% recently, while the S&P 500 (SPX) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) each slipped 0.2%. The benchmark S&P 500 index came into today’s session on a four-session losing streak, led by declines in technology sector stocks, after posting a series of record highs in previous weeks.

Market participants were keeping an eye on a handful of economic reports this morning. The big event, though, is the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, a gathering of central bankers from around the world that kicks off in earnest today. Several Fed officials are slated to speak Thursday but investors are anxiously awaiting what Powell has to say tomorrow morning.

Powell will provide his assessment of the economy and what that means for interest rates at a time when markets are pricing in the likelihood that the Fed will start cutting rates at its next policy meeting in September. After the Fed stood pat on rates in July, Powell said that officials needed to see more data on how tariffs are affecting the economy, notably inflation, before adjusting policy. If Powell maintains that cautious stance and fails to signal that rate cuts are coming, investors will be disappointed.

Technology stocks were under pressure again this morning. Amazon (AMZN) and Meta Platforms (META) both fell about 1%, while Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), Broadcom (AVGO) and Tesla (TSLA)  also lost ground. Alphabet (GOOG) rose 1%, while Microsoft (MSFT) ticked higher.

Shares of Palantir (PLTR), the AI data analytics software company and retail investor favorite, were up 0.5%, stabilizing after six straight days of declines that pulled the stock down 16% from the record high posted last week.

Walmart (WMT) shares declined more than 4% this morning after the retail giant and Dow component reported weaker-than-expected earnings, while raising its outlook for the full year. Walmart capped off a busy week of earnings reports from several major retailers, including Home Depot (HD), Target (TGT) and TJ Maxx parent TJX Cos. (TJX).

Bitcoin was at $113,600 recently, down from an overnight high of $114,800. The digital currency hit a record high of $124,500 a week ago before falling sharply as market participants scaled back their expectations for Fed rate cuts after a worrisome inflation report.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on a wide array of consumer and business loans, was at 4.33%, up from 4.30% at yesterday’s close. The yield traded as low as 4.20% last week before the disappointing inflation reading.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, rose 0.3% to 98.50.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, slipped 0.1% to $62.65, giving back some of yesterday’s gains after falling to their lowest levels since early June earlier in the week. Gold futures were down 0.2% at around $3,380 an ounce.