news/GOOGL/2023.02.14/S&P 500 dips as inflation data supports rate worries.txt

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)*Marriott rises on upbeat profit outlook*Palantir surges on forecasting profitable year*Apple, Alphabet weigh on S&P 500*Indexes: S&P 500 -0.20%, Nasdaq +0.07%, Dow -0.44%Feb 14 (Reuters) -The S&P 500 dipped on Tuesday after U.S. consumer
price data for January offered little to change expectations
about the Federal Reserve's path forward on interest rate hikes.Data showed U.S. consumer prices accelerated in January as
Americans continued to be burdened by higher rental housing
costs, suggesting that the Fed Federal Reserve will maintain a
moderate interest rate hiking path."Inflation remains elevated, albeit it appears to be
slowing," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S.
Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis. "Looking at today's price
action, I think it might be a little bit of profit-taking on the
heels of strong year-to-date performance."Losses of about 1% in Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc
and Alphabet Inc helped keep the S&P 500 in
negative territory.Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, seven declined, led by
real estate, down 1.12%, followed by a 0.64% loss in
consumer staples.The consumer discretionary index rose 0.5% on a
4.4% gain in Tesla Inc. The electric car maker has
rebounded 65% in 2023 after losing two-thirds of its value last
year.Money market traders are betting on at least two more 25
basis point rate hikes this year, with interest rates seen
peaking at 5.28% by July.Also adding to the investor angst were hawkish remarks by
Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin and Dallas Fed President
Lorie Logan. Barkin said the Fed needs to prioritize quashing
inflation over risks to U.S. economic growth.Wall Street had an upbeat start to the year, lifted by
renewed interest in volatile growth stocks battered in 2022 as
the Fed raised rates aggressively to bring steep prices under
control.The rally, however, stalled last week following signs of a
tight labor market and hawkish commentary from Fed policymakers.The S&P 500 is up about 8% so far in 2023, while the
Nasdaq Composite Index has rebounded about 14%.Investors will closely watch January retail sales data on
Wednesday for hints on consumer spending amid worries of an
economic slowdown.In afternoon trading, the S&P 500 was down 0.20% at
4,129.11 points.The Nasdaq gained 0.07% at 11,900.01 points, while the
Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.44% at 34,094.88
points.Shares of Boeing Co rose 1.8% to their highest in
over a year after Air India unveiled a deal to buy 220 of its
passenger planes.Coca-Cola Co slipped 1.4% despite a strong full-year
profit forecast.Marriott International Inc rose 2.8% after the hotel
operator forecast first-quarter earnings above Wall Street
estimates as it benefited from strong travel demand.Palantir Technologies soared more than 15% after
the data analytics firm forecast its first profitable year.Of the more than half of S&P 500 firms that have reported
results, nearly 69% have beaten profit expectations, as per
Refinitiv on Friday. However, analysts expect fourth-quarter
earnings to fall 2.8% from a year earlier.Across the U.S. stock market, declining stocks
outnumbered rising ones by a 1.3-to-one ratio.The S&P 500 posted 10 new highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq recorded 60 new highs and 65 new lows.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru,
and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Additional
reporting by Stephen Culp in New York; Editing by Sriraj
Kalluvila, Maju Samuel and Richard Chang)