On a noteworthy Tuesday, US benchmark equity indexes displayed a mixed performance as traders anxiously anticipated the official consumer inflation data for the month of August. The Nasdaq Composite climbed by 0.8%, settling at 17,025.9, while the S&P 500 experienced a gain of 0.5%, reaching 5,495.5.
Conversely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a slight decline of 0.2%, closing at 40,737. Among the various sectors, real estate emerged as the leading gainer, while the energy sector recorded the most significant downturn. In the realm of economic indicators, experts are forecasting that government data, scheduled for release on Wednesday, is likely to reveal that US consumer inflation increased by 0.2% on a sequential basis and 2.6% annually during the previous month, according to a consensus compiled by Bloomberg. Market sentiment is currently reflecting a 69% probability that the Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee will implement a 25 basis point reduction in its benchmark lending rate during the upcoming week, with the remaining likelihood favoring more aggressive rate cuts, as indicated by the CME FedWatch tool. Additionally, the official producer price report for August is set to be released on Thursday, providing further insights into the inflation landscape. Shifting focus to small business sentiment, optimism in the US dipped last month, primarily influenced by lowered expectations for sales volumes.
Inflation has continued to surface as a significant concern among business owners, as highlighted in the latest survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business. From a fixed income perspective, the US two-year yield witnessed a decrease of 7.3 basis points, falling to 3.59% on Tuesday, while the 10-year rate similarly lost six basis points, settling at 3.64%. On the commodities front, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices experienced a decline of 3.6%, reaching $66.26 per barrel.
This drop follows the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' recent adjustments to its global oil demand projections for the years 2024 and 2025. In corporate news, Oracle Corporation ($ORCL) made headlines as its shares surged by an impressive 11%, securing its position as the top performer on the S&P 500.
The software giant reported fiscal first-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street's expectations, showcasing robust performance driven by growth in its cloud services. In a strategic move, Oracle and Amazon.com Inc. ($AMZN) announced a new partnership on Monday, offering an innovative solution that enables customers to access Oracle's Autonomous Database on dedicated infrastructure, as well as the Oracle Exadata Database Service within Amazon's expansive cloud computing platform.
Following this announcement, Amazon's shares rose by 2.4% on Tuesday, marking it as the biggest gainer on the Dow. Conversely, JPMorgan Chase & Co. ($JPM) cautioned that the consensus for the Street's net interest income in 2025 might be overly optimistic in light of the anticipated interest rate cuts expected to commence next week.
As a result, JPMorgan's shares fell by 5.2%, making it the worst performer on the Dow and one of the notable decliners on the S&P 500. Meanwhile, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company ($HPE) faced a challenging day, recording the steepest decline on the S&P 500 with an 8.5% drop. This downturn followed the company's announcement regarding a public offering amounting to $1.35 billion for its series C mandatory convertible preferred shares. In the precious metals market, gold prices increased by 0.5%, now standing at $2,545.20 per troy ounce, while silver also saw a modest rise of 0.4%, reaching $28.75 per ounce..