(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Wednesday over concerns about sticky inflation as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s report on the U.S. economy for clues on the bank’s interest rate path.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the biggest drag across the three major indexes, down 2.6% after a report said China had banned officials at central government agencies from using iPhones and other foreign-branded devices for work.
Other megacaps also declined, with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) down between 0.9% and 4.0% as Treasury yields moved higher after stronger-than-expected economic data.
Fueling rate-hike concerns and denting investor sentiment, data showed the ISM non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 54.5, compared with expectations of 52.5.
A recent uptick in oil prices has fueled fears of persistent inflationary pressures that could compel the Federal Reserve to keep rates higher for longer.
Slowing economic growth in other parts of the world has hurt risk sentiment in recent days, according to analysts.
“If you look around the globe, China economic news is worsening, European macro news is not good. So at one point or another, that demand worry is going to impact the market,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
Investors are also waiting for the Fed’s “Beige Book”, due at 2:00 p.m. ET, for a snapshot of the U.S. economy, ahead of the keenly awaited inflation data scheduled for next week and the Fed’s policy decision on Sept. 20.
Traders’ odds for a pause in interest rate hikes in the central bank’s September meeting remained intact at 93%, with bets on a pause in November at 57.3%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
Boston Fed President Susan Collins stressed on the need for the central bank to “proceed carefully” as it takes its next monetary policy steps, further clouding the outlook for interest rates.
At 10:07 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 85.80 points, or 0.25%, at 34,556.17, the S&P 500 was down 25.25 points, or 0.56%, at 4,471.58, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 125.49 points, or 0.90%, at 13,895.46.
Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) dropped 2.6% after the U.S. weapons maker trimmed the delivery outlook for its F-35 jets, and delayed shipments of its updated Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) jets.
Gitlab gained 5.9% after the software coding platform posted a surprise profit for the second quarter.
Shares of Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) climbed 9.1% after the video-streaming company said on Wednesday it would reduce its workforce by about 10% and limit new hiring.
General Mills (NYSE:GIS) added 0.5% after the Cheerios cereals-maker reaffirmed its financial targets for 2024.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.50-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded three new 52-week highs and 19 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 27 new highs and 78 new lows.
