Stock market today: S&P 500 ends slightly lower ahead of Powell at Jackson Hole
Investing.com — The S&P 500 ended slight lower Monday, as investors digested a meeting between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington and looked ahead to the upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium.
At 4:00 p.m. ET (20:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 index slipped 0.02%, while the NASDAQ Composite added 0.3%.
The main Wall Street indices notched their second straight positive week last week, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average joined the benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite in reaching a new all-time peak during the week.
Trump-Zelensky meeting concludes in Washington
During his meeting with Zelensky, Trump on Monday said the U.S. would be involved in security assistance for Ukraine, though stopped short of providing further details what exactly that would look like.
Zelensky hailed the talks as “very good,” relating to security guarantees for Ukraine.
Tump also added that he would call Russian President Vladimir Putin today following the meeting with Zelensky that could pave the ground to a potential trilateral meeting between the U.S., Ukraine and Russia, though cautioned that it may or may not happen.
European leaders, who were also in attendance at the White House pushed for Trump to consider ceasefire to buy time to furnish a deal, but the president said that while “it might be good to have” it may not be necessary for peace.
Ahead of meeting, Trump said in on Truth Social that Zelenskyy “can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.’ The president also suggested that any deal would not include Ukraine regaining control of Crimea, which was annex by Russia in 2014.
“Remember how it started. No getting back Obama-given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE,” Trump added.
Jackson Hole awaited for more rate cues
The main economic focus this week is squarely on Federal Reserve Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday, which is expected to provide more cues on interest rates.
Powell’s address comes amid growing conviction that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points in September, especially following soft payrolls and consumer inflation readings for July. Investors are pricing in a 83% chance for a 25 bps cut in September, CME Fedwatch showed.
Strong producer inflation data released last week largely ruled out the chances of a bigger cut.
Walmart, Target to round off Q2 earnings
A host of major retailers are set to report their second-quarter earnings this week, rounding off a mostly positive reporting season.
{{7997|Walmart (NYSE:WMT)}} and {{8180|Target (NYSE:TGT)}} will be the most closely watched, with other major retailers including {{8064|Home Depot (NYSE:HD)}}, Lowe’s Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW), and {{8227|TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX)}} also on tap.
The earnings will provide more insight into the U.S. consumer, amid some concerns that President Donald Trump’s tariffs will chip away at private spending.
About 90% of S&P 500 companies have reported June quarter earnings so far, with 81% of the ones that reported logging stronger-than-expected prints, data from FactSet showed.