Wall St muted ahead of Nvidia results, hot inflation fuels rate-hike bets

Business Recorder reported that US stock indexes were little changed on Wednesday as investors held back ahead of Nvidia's quarterly earnings. Hotter-than-expected inflation added to wagers on a September Fed rate increase. A Commerce Department report put annual inflation at 3.7% in the 12 months through July, against 3.6% forecast by analysts.

Futures tied to Fed funds implied roughly a 44% chance of a rate increase in September, up from around 36% before the release. Second-quarter growth was revised to 1.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 21.54 points to 53,555.86, a decline of 0.04%. Among megacaps, Microsoft and Apple each rose 0.5%, while Nvidia slipped 0.4% before its report.

Meta has accepted paying up to $16.68 billion and revising Facebook and Instagram to settle claims by US states over harm to children, though its shares later traded 0.6% lower. Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, fell 4% after projecting annual revenue below Street expectations. Traders will also follow Kevin Warsh, the Fed chair, when he addresses the Jackson Hole gathering on Friday.