US Stock Markets Today: Dow Jones Little Changed Ahead Of PCE Inflation Reading

The Dow Jones edged higher on Wednesday as investors wait for the personal consumption expenditures price index, as it will give indications on how the Federal Reserve may proceed on its rate policy in the December meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.09% or 38.55 points.

The S&P 500 fell over 0.19%, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.38%, or 71.98 points.

The markets were mixed after the US economy rose at an annualised rate of 2.8% in the third quarter, driven primarily by broad-based consumer spending as inflation continued to ease.

This comes after the three major averages closed in the green on Tuesday. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones both hit new intraday records and ended the session at an all-time high.

The markets are expected to record the highest monthly gains ahead of Thanksgiving. While the Dow Jones has roughly seen a 7.4% monthly gain, the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite have seen a 5.5% and 6% rise, respectively.

The US market is set to be closed on Thursday on the occasion of the Thanksgiving holiday, and it will also close early on Friday.

In the early minutes of trading, only three of the 11 sectoral indices were trading in red, with information technology and consumer discretionary sectors trading lower and the material and real estate sectors leading the surge.

Among major companies, Nike Inc. and Quantum Corp. logged gains, whereas Dell Technologies Inc., HP Inc., Salesforce Inc., and Nvidia Corp. slipped in early trade.

As the US market opened, spot gold rose 0.77% to $2,653.49 an ounce. Crude oil prices fell, with Brent trading 0.14% lower at $72.71 per barrel.

“Overall, it was a mix of economic data that the market appears to be shrugging off as the core PCE print later this morning looms,” Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets told Bloomberg.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index fell 0.5%, with the British pound, on the other hand, rising 0.7% to $1.2656, while the Japanese yen rose 1.1%.

Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, rose 2.7% to $94,145.67.