NEW YORK — U.S. equities showed a mixed but mostly positive start to the week on Monday, with investors carefully positioning ahead of crucial inflation readings that could steer the Federal Reserve’s next policy move.
The coming days will bring reports on both consumer and producer prices, representing the last major checkpoints before the Fed’s September 17 interest rate meeting. Traders are weighing whether recent signs of economic cooling, particularly last week’s soft labor market data, will be enough to push the central bank toward rate cuts.
Early in the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2% to 45,332.24, while the S&P 500 inched up 0.2% to 6,497.22. The Nasdaq Composite, boosted by strength in technology names, climbed 0.7% to 21,848.23.
Market strategist Adam Sarhan noted that while Wall Street remains in an extended bull cycle, the inflation figures could prove decisive. “Every investor is tuned to the same frequency right now—looking for clues in the data that might reveal the Fed’s hand,” he said.
With only days to go before policymakers convene, the markets appear to be walking a tightrope: optimistic about easing ahead, but still tethered to every decimal point in the inflation reports set to arrive this week.
