Wall Street’s main indexes have edged higher in choppy trading following the latest batch of economic data even as investors try to gauge the impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs on the world’s largest economy.
A Commerce Department report showed retail sales rebounded 0.2 per cent in February, after a revised 1.2 per cent decline in January. However, it fell short of the 0.6 per cent rise economists were expecting.
A separate report showed New York State factory activity plunged by the most in nearly two years, with new orders falling sharply and input prices climbing at the fastest rate in more than two years.
“It’s just too early to tell. There are still too many unknowns and it’s hard to make that rationale,” Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management’s CEO Phil Blancato said on recession worries.
“We have an expensive stock market and we’re probably looking at a difficult year to start.”
Megacaps were mixed with Microsoft and Apple up 0.1 per cent each, while Nvidia lost 0.4 per cent and Amazon.com slipped 0.3 per cent.
Tesla declined 2.7 per cent. A report showed brokerage Mizuho lowered its price target on the EV maker’s stock.
Over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned in an interview that there are “no guarantees” the United States will escape a recession.
His remarks heightened anxieties about the possibility of an economic downturn at a time when US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have intensified fears of a trade war-induced recession.
Trump has made it clear there will be no exemptions for steel and aluminum tariffs, with reciprocal and sectoral tariffs poised to take effect on April 2.
The Fed’s rate decision is slated for Wednesday, with market expectations firmly anticipating that the US central bank will maintain current interest rates, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Two favourable inflation reports had provided some relief and fueled Friday’s “dip buying”, propelling the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to their largest single-day percentage gains since November 6.
In early trading on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 203.34 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 41,695.55, the S&P 500 gained 27.46 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 5,666.40, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 59.43 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 17,813.51.
Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, led by a 1.2 per cent climb in energy stocks as they tracked crude prices.
Trump’s tariff hikes will drag down growth in Canada, Mexico and the US while driving up inflation, the OECD said as it lowered its global economic outlook and warned that a broader trade war would sap growth further.
Last week, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq marked their fourth consecutive weekly declines, with the Dow also experiencing a weekly drop.
The blue-chip Dow is precariously close to correction territory, hovering about two per cent away, and down roughly eight per cent from its all-time high.
The S&P 500 entered correction territory last week, following the Nasdaq’s earlier move on March 6.
Intel rose 4.9 per cent after a report said incoming CEO Lip-Bu Tan has considered significant changes to its chip manufacturing methods and artificial intelligence strategies ahead of his return to the company. The broader chip index added one per cent.
https://thewest.com.au/business/markets/wall-street-inches-higher-after-retail-sales-data-c-18071556
