U.S. stocks started the second quarter of 2024 on shaky footing Monday.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) rose just above the flatline. All three indexes fell from gains earlier in the session.
Wall Street started 2024 on a high note. The benchmark S&P 500 index has set 22 new records in closing prices so far this year, as part of its best first quarter since 2019. Meanwhile, all three major averages have increased for five consecutive months.
Although markets were closed on Friday, this week’s closely watched data, the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index, served to boost expectations for rate cuts this year. The index includes “core” PCE, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation. The report said core PCE rose 0.3% from the previous month, lower than economists expected. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday that the statistics were “in line” with what the Fed is looking for.
These statistics strengthened investors’ expectations for a June interest rate cut.by CME FedWatch Toolsabout two-thirds of investors are pricing in a rate cut at the June Fed meeting, up from about 55% last Thursday.
The macroeconomic highlight of the first week of the second quarter will be Friday’s jobs report, which will be another important signal for the Fed.
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