Stocks diverge ahead of key US debt talks
Wall Street finished mixed on Monday, with the Nasdaq helped by gains in Alphabet and Meta Platforms, while the S&P 500 ended near flat as investors refrained from big bets ahead of a fresh round of talks about raising the US debt ceiling. US President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy were set to meet to discuss raising the federal debt ceiling, just 10 days before the United States could face an unprecedented default. "Investors are basically saying, 'We're giving at least a 60:40 likelihood that they will come to an agreement in time,'" said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. "An agreement could simply be the extension, kicking it down the road to decide on a debt ceiling when they also discuss the budgets in September." The S&P 500 edged up 0.02% to end at 4,192 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.5% at 12,720 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.4% to 33,286 points. Comments by St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on Monday that the Federal Reserve may still need to raise its benchmark interest rate by another half-point this year pushed up the US dollar. (Reuters)