S&P 500, Dow gain as Target results lift retailers; Fed minutes in focus
By Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A
(Reuters) — The S&P 500 and Dow rose on Wednesday as Target results lifted the retail sector, while investors awaited minutes of the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting for cues on the bank's interest rate path.
Shares of Target jumped 6.3% after the big-box retailer's second-quarter profit beat outweighed its annual forecast cut.
Bigger rival Walmart (NYSE:WMT), which is scheduled to report results on Thursday, rose 0.5%, while department stores Macy's (NYSE:M) and Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) gained 2.1% and 0.7%, respectively. Home Depot (NYSE:HD) rose 1.2%.
The S&P 500 consumer staples index added 0.4%, while energy firms rose 0.5% as Chevron (NYSE:CVX) gained 1.3% after Mizuho upgraded its rating.
Equities have been going through a rough patch in August, with the S&P 500 languishing at a more than one-month low as data underscoring sticky inflation and a robust economy has fanned fears of interest rates staying elevated for longer.
While investors largely expect the Fed's monetary tightening to be nearing its end, worries linger the central bank could hold rates at the current level for longer.
Traders' bets of a rate hike pause in September stand at nearly 91%, according to CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME) Fedwatch tool.
The Federal Reserve's July 25-26 meeting minutes are due at 1400 ET (1800 GMT). The central bank had raised rates by 25 basis points at the end of the meeting.
«Investors are expecting that the Fed's tone will remain fairly hawkish within those minutes,» said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
«Our economists believe that rates will be cut in the beginning of 2024, but the worry is that maybe the Fed will keep rates higher for longer in order to
Read more on investing.com
