NEW YORK, May 10 — Wall Street stocks were mixed early today ahead of key consumer price and retail sales data expected to influence the outlook for US monetary policy.
Major stock indices closed at records Friday following a disappointing April jobs report that bolstered expectations the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low for a long period of time to support the economic recovery.
“Concerns about the Fed reining in its highly-accommodative monetary policy has roiled the markets recently but Friday’s surprisingly severe miss in April job growth seemed to ease some of the uneasiness,” Charles Schwab investment bank said in a note.
About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 35,000.08, up 0.6 per cent.
The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.1 per cent to 4,227.75, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.4 per cent to 13,560.46.
In addition to data on consumer prices, this week’s calendar also includes a report on producer prices. Numerous consumer and manufacturing companies highlighted rising prices as a challenge in their recent batch of earnings reports. — AFP
