Wall Street sits tight as it braces for inflation data

NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes held at a nearstandstill again on Tuesday, as traders made their final moves ahead of some potentially market-moving reports.

The S&P 500 edged up 7.52 points, or 0.1%, to 5,209.91 after barely budging the day before. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 9.13 points, or less than 0.1%, to 38,883.67, while the Nasdaq composite rose 52.68 points, or 0.3%, to 16,306.64.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market ahead of Wednesday’s highly anticipated update on inflation at the U.S. consumer level.

The dominant question hanging over Wall Street is whether inflation will cool enough to convince the Federal Reserve to deliver the cuts to interest rates that traders are craving and have been betting on.

Strategists at Bank of America are looking for Wednesday’s inflation update to show a cool-down after ignoring food and energy prices, which can zigzag sharply. Such a result would probably increase traders’ expectations for a cut to rates in June.

Although a jump in oil prices this year has raised worries about a feedthrough into inflation, oil would probably need to rise “well above levels seen even in the peak Russia-Ukraine commodity price spike for a meaningful impact on core inflation,” the Bank of America strategists said in a BofA Global Research report.

A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.20 to settle at $85.23, trimming its yearto-date gain to less than 20%. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 96 cents to $89.42 per barrel.

On Wall Street, Apple helped nudge the S&P 500 higher by rising 0.7%. It trimmed it loss for the year to a shade below 12%.

Norfolk Southern rose 1.3% even though the railroad reported preliminary earnings results for the first quarter that were shy of analysts’ expectations.

It agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement related to a fiery train derailment last year in eastern Ohio.

Some of Wall Street’s largest losses came from the same stocks that have been the biggest winners in the market’s frenzy around artificial intelligence technology.

Nvidia sank 2%, and because it’s one of the biggest stocks in the market, it was the single heaviest force weighing on the S&P 500. Super Micro Computer fell 2.6%, though its stock has still more than tripled so far this year.

Tilray Brands tumbled 20.7% after the cannabis company reported weaker revenue growth for its latest quarter than analysts expected.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.35% from 4.42% late Monday.