NEW YORK, Sept 12 — Wall Street’s main indexes fell today as Oracle shares slumped, while investors awaited key inflation readings later this week for clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path.

Cloud-services provider Oracle dropped 11.5 per cent to its lowest intra-day level in a month, after forecasting current-quarter revenue below targets and narrowly missing first-quarter expectations.

Investors await August consumer prices data due tomorrow and producer prices reading scheduled for Thursday, which will be followed by the Fed’s policy decision on September 20.

A recent uptick in oil prices and strong economic data have fuelled concerns over stubborn inflation, clouding the chances of an end to US monetary policy tightening.

“People are a little bit worried about energy prices picking up pretty aggressively in recent weeks and that creates some concerns as we look forward to November,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.

“It seems regardless that Fed will skip in September, but the inflation data that we get between now and November is critical and the market is at the point where anymore tightening could be a bit excessive and a major headwind.”

Traders see a 91 per cent chance of rates remaining at the current levels in September and a near 53 per cent likelihood of a pause in November, as per the CME FedWatch Tool.

Investors will also monitor the European Central Bank’s policy decision on Thursday, where it is seen holding rates after nine consecutive hikes.

Energy stocks added 1.7 per cent, leading gains among major S&P 500 sectors as oil prices rose 1 per cent on tighter supply outlook.

Megacaps Amazon.com and Microsoft dropped 0.7 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, while Apple slipped 0.4 per cent ahead of its new iPhone 15 lineup launch amid uncertainty over market access in China and intensifying competition.

At 9.42am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 44.48 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 34,619.24, the S&P 500 was down 6.78 points, or 0.15 per cent, at 4,480.68, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 18.30 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 13,899.59.

WestRock jumped 6.4 per cent on agreeing to merge with Europe’s Smurfit Kappa to create the world’s largest listed paper and packaging company worth nearly US$20 billion (RM93 billion).

Paramount Global added 1.0 per cent as a report said major shareholder National Amusements had reached a debt-restructuring deal with its lenders.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.16-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded five new 52-week highs and eight new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 16 new highs and 77 new lows. — Reuters