Stock market today: S&P 500 falls as Nvidia-led drop in tech continues

Investing.com-- The S&P 500 closed lower Wednesday for a fourth-straight day, as Nvidia continued to lose steam, dragging tech lower, ahead of its results next week. 

At 4:00 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 15 points, or 0.04%, while the S&P 500 index dropped 0.3%, and the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.7%.  

Nvidia leads tech slump

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares were down more than 3% after falling 3.5% on Tuesday as investors continued to opt for caution ahead of the chipmaker’s results next week.  

Other megacap tech stocks including Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) were also in the red, down more than 1%.  

Fed members leaned into wait and see approach at July meeting

Federal Reserve policymakers continued to echo a patient approach on further rate cuts pointing to early signs of tariff-induced inflation that suggest it would be appropriate to wait for clarity on the full impact of President Trump’s tariffs, according to the minutes of the Fed’s July 29-30 meeting.

Further clues on monetary policy is slated for later this week, when Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivers remarks at the Jackson Hole conference this week.

Powell is set to speak on Friday, with his address coming amid growing expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates in September. These were driven by data showing some cooling in the labor market and consumer inflation. 

President Donald Trump also kept up his criticism of Powell, chiding the Fed Chair for being “too late” in cutting interest rates.

That said, investors may not have to wait until then for clues about the central bank’s next move as the minutes of the last meeting are due later in the session.

The Fed has maintained its policy rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range for all of this year, with some policymakers, and Powell in particular, expressing worries that the Trump administration’s tariffs could reignite inflation.

Causing some added uneasiness were calls by President Trump for Fed governor Lisa Cook to resign over mortgage fraud allegations.

Trump said Fed’s Cook ’must resign’

President Donald Trump urged Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to "resign, now!!!" related to a potential mortgage fraud investigation. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte sent a criminal referral letter about Cook to Attorney General Pam Bondi recently, highlighting that Cook took a mortgage on an Ann Arbor, Michigan property, declaring it would be her primary residence for at least a year. Two weeks later, she reportedly took another mortgage on a Georgia property with the same primary residence declaration.

Trump has been making strides to reshape the Federal Reserve in his effort to get the Fed to lower interest rates. Fed Chair Powell has seen the brunt of Trump’s rage, and he will most likely be replaced when his term ends next year.

Retail earnings in spotlight 

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) stock fell after the discounter appointed Michael Fiddelke, the company’s current Chief Operating Officer, to succeed Brian Cornell as CEO, the first change since 2014, while showing continuing sales challenges.

Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) stock also slumped after the cosmetics giant forecast annual profit below expectations, citing ongoing weakness in demand in the U.S. and China as well as tariff uncertainty.

On the flip side, Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) stock rose after the retailer beat earnings expectations, and revised its full-year outlook, as demand for home projects picked up during the quarter.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) stock also gained after the retailer reported second-quarter comparable sales that beat expectations, while also lifting full-year guidance.

Elsewhere, Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) stock rose after the semiconductor company reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that exceeded expectations, while also providing an upbeat outlook for the current quarter.

U.S. companies have posted their strongest earnings beats in more than three years during the second quarter, according to an analysis by Jefferies, adding that the “difference between actual & consensus earnings growth is 12.3%, the widest spread since 1Q’22.” 

In other news, Hertz Global Holdings (OTC:HTZGQ) Inc (NASDAQ:HTZ) climbed 6% after clinching a deal with Amazon to begin selling used vehicles on Amazon Autos.

Ambar Warrick and Peter Nurse contributed to this article