Stock investors await US inflation data amid thin trading

US stocks fell in the final trading hours as investors reacted cautiously on the eve of the closely watched consumer inflation report, which is seen as a key to the path of interest rates and a guide to the US Federal Reserve’s moves, according to the American Yahoo Finance network.

Stock indices decline

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell by 0.3% to close at 6,034.91 points, while the Nasdaq index fell by 0.25% to 19,687.24 points, and both indexes recorded consecutive losses.
The Dow Jones Index also fell for the fourth day in a row by 154.10 points, or 0.35%, to reach 44,247.83 points, after the three indices started the week with small losses.

Oracle shares…the biggest losers

Oracle software and database company shares fell by 6.7% after the company published the results of the second quarter of the fiscal year, which were lower than Wall Street estimates, while the stock jumped by about 68% this year.
Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said: “It is noticeable that the market has been narrowing since last week as investors wait to know whether this is just a traditional seasonal weakness in mid-December or more than that, but the market expects Participation is widening again as the market experiences an end-of-year rally.”

Good performance for Alphabet shares

Alphabet’s stock was among the winning stocks during the session, rising by 5.6% on the back of Google achieving a major breakthrough in the field of highly precise computing by unveiling its new chip. This means that its gains since the beginning of the year exceeded 32%.
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This comes after the major averages fell on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite falling about 0.6%, retreating from recent record levels, with Nvidia shares falling.

Nvidia shares decline

Shares of Nvidia, the chip giant, fell by more than 2% on Tuesday, extending the losses seen in the previous session, after a Chinese regulator said it was investigating the company for possible violations of the country’s antitrust law.
By contrast, Meta shares rose 1% on Tuesday after also seeing losses on Monday.

Inflation data

Investors are now awaiting the US CPI report which is scheduled to be released on Wednesday and could influence how the Federal Reserve moves on interest rates at its meeting on December 17-18.
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November’s CPI will serve as the latest test of how high inflation poses a risk to the US economy as the Federal Reserve debates its final decision on interest rates for the year after cutting interest rates by 75 basis points so far in 2024.
The report is expected to show headline inflation at 2.7%, a slight rise from October’s 2.6% annual price increase, and consumer prices are expected to rise 0.3% from the previous month as well ahead of the 0.2% monthly increase seen in October. .