Stocks closed lower on Tuesday, signaling a pause in the November rally as investors awaited results from AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) and digested the release of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes.
The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed down 0.2%, after the stock gauge closed at its highest level since August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) each dropped roughly 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively.
Retail earnings disappointed with shares of companies like Lowe’s (LOW), Best Buy (BBY), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), and Kohl’s (KSS) dropping on Tuesday as a pullback in consumer spending clouded forecasts and registered a hit to sales.
Looking ahead, eyes will be on Nvidia’s quarterly report for an update on the fundamentals behind the AI hype cycle after the company’s stock notched a record close on Monday. Expectations are high as the chip giant has become the face of the 2023 AI story after its last earnings spurred a rally in stocks.
Meanwhile, the OpenAI drama is still center stage after Microsoft’s (MSFT) CEO hinted he was open to Sam Altman rejoining the ChatGPT maker.
Minutes from the Fed’s last rate-setting meeting were also top of mind, amid a debate over whether the rate-cut optimism that has powered the stock rally is overdone.
According to the minutes of the Oct. 30-Nov. 1 meeting released on Tuesday, all FOMC participants “judged that it would be appropriate for policy to remain at a restrictive stance for some time until inflation is clearly moving down sustainably toward the Committee’s objective.”
