S&P 500, Dow gain as Target results lift retailers

The S&P 500 and Dow have risen as Target results lifted the retail sector, while investors await minutes of the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting for cues on the bank's interest rate path. Shares of Target jumped 6.3 per cent after the big-box retailer's second-quarter profit outweighed its annual forecast cut. Bigger rival Walmart, which is scheduled to report results on Thursday, rose 0.5 per cent on Wednesday, while department stores Macy's and Kohl's gained 2.1 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively. Home Depot rose 1.2 per cent. The S&P 500 consumer staples index added 0.4 per cent, while energy firms rose 0.5 per cent as Chevron gained 1.3 per cent after Mizuho upgraded its rating. Equities have been going through a rough patch in August, with the S&P 500 languishing at a more than one-month low as data underscoring sticky inflation and a robust economy has fanned fears of interest rates staying elevated for longer. While investors largely expect the Fed's monetary tightening to be nearing its end, worries linger the central bank could hold rates at the current level for longer. Traders' bets of a rate hike pause in September stand at nearly 91 per cent, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool. The Federal Reserve's July 25-26 meeting minutes are due at 2pm local time. The central bank had raised rates by 25 basis points at the end of the meeting. "Investors are expecting that the Fed's tone will remain fairly hawkish within those minutes," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. "Our economists believe that rates will be cut in the beginning of 2024, but the worry is that maybe the Fed will keep rates higher for longer in order to ensure that inflation is coming down." Investors also digested stronger-than-expected industrial production data for July which drove yields on the 10-year Treasury note to session highs of 4.235 per cent. Nvidia edged up 0.5 per cent after Piper Sandler became the latest Wall Street brokerage to raise its price target on the stock ahead of the chip designer's earnings next week. Keeping the Nasdaq under pressure, Tesla slid 0.4 per cent after the electric-car maker cut prices for its premium Model S and Model X cars in China by more than 6 per cent. At 9.55am local time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 137.92 points, or 0.39 per cent, at 35,084.31, the S&P 500 was up 5.03 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 4,442.89, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 29.36 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 13,601.68. Among other stocks, US-listed shares of Tower Semiconductor dropped 8.8 per cent, after Intel terminated its plans to acquire the Israeli contract chipmaker. Coinbase gained 2.5 per cent as it secured regulatory approval to offer cryptocurrency futures to US retail customers. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.53-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded three new 52-week highs and 10 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 20 new highs and 92 new lows.