Wall Street mixed as investors eye GDP, inflation data
US stocks wavered to a mixed close on Monday as benchmark US Treasury yields backed down from 5 percent and investors shifted their focus to this week's high profile earnings and closely watched economic data. The S&P 500 index ended modestly lower, while a host of interest rate sensitive momentum stocks buoyed the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index to a higher close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched its fourth straight daily drop. "The story continues to be about interest rates, and to some extent switching from 'higher for longer' to 'how much higher for how much longer?'" said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York. "The market has accepted the idea that the Fed is not going to lower rates any time soon." The week ahead promises to be eventful for earnings, with reports by nearly one-third of the companies in the S&P 500. These include megacap momentum drivers, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon.com, along with heavy-hitting industrials such as General Motors, Ford Motor and Boeing. "With nearly a third of the S&P reporting this week, investors are hoping these 'magnificent seven' companies will end up surprising to the upside," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist of CFRA Research in New York. The Commerce Department on Thursday will announce third-quarter gross domestic product, seen accelerating to 4.3 percent. Its wide-ranging Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, due on Friday, is expected to show annual headline and core inflation cooling down to 3.4 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. "The Fed wants to slow inflation at a quicker pace than it slows economic growth, and it's doing so," Pursche added. "That's the classic definition of a soft landing." The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.58 percent, to 32,936; the S&P 500 lost 0.17 percent, at 4,217; and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.27 percent, at 13,018. Walgreens Boots Alliance surged 3.3 percent after J.P. Morgan upgraded the pharmacy chain operator to "overweight" from "neutral." Chevron fell 3.7 percent  after the company said it would buy smaller rival Hess Corp in a US$53 billion all-stock deal. Hess dipped 1.1 percent. (Reuters)