US market pauses ahead of key inflation figure
A revival in GameStop and other meme stocks overshadowed a mixed performance in the broader stock market on Monday as a Dow winning streak ended. Art Hogan, from B. Riley Financial, said the markets are looking ahead to Wednesday's consumer price index report for April. The market will celebrate signs of moderating inflation, Hogan said, while further signs of intensifying inflation will lead to "the kind of selling pressure that we saw in April." The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.2 percent to 39,431, ending an eight-day winning streak. The S&P 500 was flat at 5,221, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3 percent to 16,388. Monday's light schedule in terms of economic reports continued the sleepy tenor of last week, when stocks climbed on hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates. The inflation report -- along with this week's retail sales data -- will inform expectations about US monetary policy. Among individual companies, GameStop rocketed 70.9 percent higher while AMC Entertainment surged 80.9 percent. Both benefited from the return to social media of "Roaring Kitty," whose posts helped ignite a massive rally in a handful of stocks in January 2021. Apple jumped 1.8 percent following a Bloomberg report that the smartphone giant is close to a deal with OpenAI to add ChatGPT to iPhones. (AFP)