Nov 29 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 ended lower on Tuesday, with losses in Apple and Amazon ahead of an upcoming speech by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, which could hint at the size of future interest rate hikes.
Investors also focused on recent protests against the COVID-19 curve in China, including at the world’s largest iPhone factory.
Shares of Apple ( AAPL.O ) fell 2.1%, down for a fourth straight session.
Powell is scheduled to speak at a Brookings Institution event on Wednesday about the outlook for the US economy and the labor market. Investors will be looking for clues as to when the Fed will slow the pace of its aggressive interest rate hikes.
“No one wants to buy ahead of tomorrow and Powell speaks. Everyone is nervous about what he will say,” said Ron Saba, senior portfolio manager at Horizon Investments in Charlotte.
Shares of Amazon ( AMZN.O ), Nvidia ( NVDA.O ) and Tesla ( TSLA.O ) each lost more than 1%.
The benchmark S&P 500 index (.SPX) headed for its second straight month of gains in November amid bets that recent inflation readings that show a slight cooling in prices will lead the Fed to the scale of rate hikes. his interests.
The Fed has delivered four straight 75 basis point rate hikes, and is expected to shift down the pace to a 50-bps move in December. FEDWATCH
A survey on Tuesday showed US consumer confidence weakened in November amid lingering concerns about the rising cost of living.
Mainland China’s latest wave of civil disobedience came as the number of COVID cases hit a daily high and large parts of several cities face new lockdowns, further threatening the world’s second-largest economy.
The S&P 500 energy sector index (.SPNY) rose 1.3%, while gains in oil prices on expectations of a loosening of China’s strict COVID controls were later offset by concerns that OPEC+ would keep its output unchanged at its next meeting.
The S&P 500 declined 0.16% to end the session at 3,957.60 points.
The Nasdaq declined 0.59% to 10,983.78 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.01% to 33,852.13 points.
Despite the S&P 500’s decline, advanced issues outnumbered decliners (.AD.SPX) by a 1.3-to-one ratio.
S&P 500 posts three new highs and two new lows; The Nasdaq recorded 68 new highs and 183 new lows.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Pinduoduo Inc ( PDD.O ) and JD.com Inc jumped more than 5% after China expanded equity financing channels for property developers.
Shares in Chinese Internet company Bilibili Inc rose 22% after posting upbeat quarterly results.
Volume on US exchanges was relatively light, with 9.6 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 11.2 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Edited by Marguerita Choy and Shounak Dasgupta
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