Wall Street holds firmer in mixed trading
U.S. stocks held firmer Wednesday, a day after their worst drop in weeks.
The S&P 500 inched up by 5.68 points, or 0.1%, to 5,211.49 The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 43.10, or 0.1%, to 39,127.14, and the Nasdaq composite added 37.01, or 0.2%, to 16,277.46.
GE Aerospace helped lead the S&P 500 with a jump of 6.7%. It was the second day of trading for the company after splitting off its power and energy business to mark the end of the General Electric conglomerate. Cal-Maine Foods rose 3.6% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected by selling a record number of eggs.
They helped offset an 8.2% drop for Intel, which disclosed financial details about key parts of its business for the first time, including its money-losing foundry business.
The Walt Disney Co. fell 3.1% after shareholders voted against installing an activist investor to its board who had promised to shake up the company to lift its stock price. The pair's drops were a large reason the Dow lagged other indexes.
Stocks have broadly slowed their roll since screaming 26% higher from November through March.
Worries are rising that a remarkably resilient U.S. economy could prevent the Federal Reserve from delivering
as many cuts to interest rates this year as earlier hoped. Critics have also been saying at least a pullback was overdue after stock prices had grown expensive by several measures.
The Fed has indicated it may still cut its main interest rate three times this year, which would relieve pressure on the economy. But Fed officials say they will do so only if more evidence arrives to show inflation is heading down toward their goal of 2%.
Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that message in a speech Wednesday, spelling out the risks of cutting rates either too early or too late. “Given the strength of the economy and progress on inflation so far, we have time to let the incoming data guide our decisions on policy,” he said.