Wall Street slips as investors await Fed minutes
By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Johann M Cherian
(Reuters) — Wall Street's main indexes slipped on Wednesday as investors awaited minutes of the Federal Reserve's June meeting for clues on the central bank's monetary policy path, while Sino-U.S. tensions and weak economic data from Beijing dented sentiment.
Investors are focused on the Fed minutes, expected to be released around 2 p.m. ET, as they resume trading after the July 4 Independence Day holiday.
Bets for a 25-basis-point rate hike in July stood at 83%, while traders have priced in a 32% chance the U.S. central bank would deliver another hike by October, according to Refinitiv data. [IRPR]
«There is going to be a little bit of dissension among the ranks and the overall tone will be let's see how this plays out,» said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.
«Stocks have accounted for another 25 basis point rate hike when the Fed meets later this month, but a lot of people are divided on whether or not there's going to be another rate hike (after July).»
Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors fell in early trading with material shares leading declines, down 1.7%, while financials lost 0.9%.
Traders also await U.S. factory orders data, due at 10 a.m. ET, to gauge the impact of higher rates on the economy after a survey showed on Monday manufacturing slumped in June.
More economic data, including the non-farm payrolls report on Friday, is scheduled for release later this week.
Chip stocks such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) fell 0.7% and 1.0%, respectively, after China said it would control exports of some metals widely used in the semiconductor industry as tensions between Beijing and Washington rise over access to high-tech
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