By Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes slipped on Friday as investors held back after a rally in the previous session that was sparked by an oversized interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 and the Dow hovered near their record highs and were on track for weekly gains of over 1%, along with the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.67 points, or 0.23%, to 41,933.52, the S&P 500 lost 14.32 points, or 0.25%, to 5,699.32 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 19.62 points, or 0.10%, to 17,994.36.
Eight out of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded lower. Industrial stocks sank to the bottom with a 1.1% loss, while utilities bounced back with a 1.7% gain after three sessions of losses.
Rate-sensitive growth stocks were mixed. Alphabet and Apple gained over 0.4% each, while Tesla slid 1.3%.
Semiconductor companies Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm were down over 0.5% each, sending the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index 1% lower.
The S&P 500 and the Dow closed at all-time highs on Thursday, with the Dow settling above 42,000 points. The S&P 500 is set to buck the historical trend of September being weaker for U.S. equities on average.
Risk appetite got a boost earlier in the week after the Fed kicked off its easing cycle with a 50-basis-point cut and assured that more were on the way. The central bank also projected a period of steady economic growth and low unemployment and inflation.
“The Fed’s over. The rest of the world decided to buy the U.S. market and also bid up their markets … and now this is the fade,” said Jay Hatfield, portfolio manager at InfraCap.
“The most bullish thing that can happen after such a big run is a stall.”
Traders now see a 60.4% probability of a 25 bps cut in November, as per the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, while a strong majority of economists in a Reuters poll said that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points in both November and December.
The Fed’s media blackout period will be lifted with Governor Chris Waller scheduled for an interview at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Some market volatility is expected in the day, as options and futures linked to stock indexes and individual stocks are set to expire simultaneously on the third Friday of the last month of the quarter, in an event called “triple witching”.
FedEx plunged 14.4% after reporting a steep drop in quarterly profit and lowered its full-year revenue forecast, sending the Dow Jones Transport index down 3.5%.
Nike jumped 7.5% after saying that former senior executive Elliott Hill will rejoin the company to succeed John Donahoe as president and CEO.
A rebalancing of the main indexes is also expected before the market opens on Sept. 23.
Historically, equities have performed well in a rate-cutting cycle. However, the outlook appears bleak with the S&P 500’s valuations high above its longterm average.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.46-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.12-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 13 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 37 new highs and 31 new lows.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
