Wall Street ends on muted note ahead of Jackson Hole summit, retailers’ earnings

Wall Street’s main indexes closed roughly flat on Monday, after struggling for direction while investors awaited a raft of corporate earnings reports from major retailers for more signs about the state of the economy and the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole.

Walmart, Home Depot, and Target, among others, are set to report results this week and are likely to indicate how trade uncertainty and inflation expectations have affected US consumers.

Investors are also closely watching the Fed’s Jackson Hole, Wyoming, conference between August 21 and 23, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak, could offer more clarity on the economic outlook and the central bank’s policy framework.

Talks at the White House on Monday between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy failed to move the market significantly.

“It’s a quiet day, with investors getting ready for things to come,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital. “The most important event is Powell’s speech, as we expect updated thoughts about how the Fed is viewing this economic environment where inflation is at a fairly high level while unemployment seems to have a rising trend.”

Data on Friday showed that while retail sales were increasing broadly as anticipated, consumer sentiment overall had taken a hit from mounting inflation fears. On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell to the lowest reading since December 2022.

Wall Street’s main indexes rallied over the past two weeks, with the blue-chip Dow .DJI hitting an intraday record high on Friday, aided by interest rate cut expectations and a better-than-expected earnings season despite an uncertain trade environment.

On the geopolitical front, Trump and Zelenskiy met to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine, days after Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin which yielded no concrete outcome. Trump said he would call Putin and that it was possible the three leaders could hold a meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34.30 points, or 0.08%, to 44,911.82, the S&P 500 lost 0.65 point, or 0.01%, to 6,449.15 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 6.80 points, or 0.03%, to 21,629.77.

Investors continue to price in a 25-basis-point cut from the Federal Reserve next month, although they have lowered their expectations for another rate cut this year, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Recent data has also suggested that while US tariffs have not filtered in to headline consumer prices yet, weakness in the jobs market could nudge the central bank to take a more dovish stance.

Intel shares fell 3.66% after a Bloomberg report said the Trump administration is in talks to take a 10% stake in the chipmaker.

Dayforce jumped 26% after a report that private equity firm Thoma Bravo was in talks to acquire the human resources management software firm.

Solar stocks including SunRun and First Solar gained 11.35% and 9.69%, respectively, after the US Treasury Department unveiled new federal tax subsidy rules for solar and wind projects, which were less strict than investors had feared.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.16-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 185 new highs and 36 new lows on the NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted 9 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 69 new lows.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York and Johann M Cherian and Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Matthew Lewis)