Wall Street dips slightly starting holiday-shortened week

Wall Street pointed modestly lower today in a shortened trading week following the Labor Day holiday, the Associated Press reports.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrials were essentially flat, and the S&P 500 dipped a little more than 0.1%.

Markets are looking ahead to a quieter week with earnings season winding down and just a trickle of government economic data out this week, including updates on manufacturing, layoffs, and trade.

Strong hiring and consumer spending have helped stave off a recession that analysts expected at some point in 2023, but they also make the Fed’s task of taming inflation more difficult by fueling wage and price increases.

Market fears that the Fed might have to keep interest rates higher for longer — following reports showing the U.S. economy remains remarkably resilient — led the market to pull back in August.

Shares of Warner Bros Discovery Inc. were down before the opening bell after the media and entertainment conglomerate warned that the ongoing writer’s and actor’s strike may clip profits by as much as $500 million this year.

This week, DocuSign, GameStop, Dave & Buster’s, and Kroger all report their most recent quarterly financial results. Corporate earnings this quarter have been nuanced, with many companies beating modest expectations while warning of slowing sales and profit in the coming quarters.

In other trading today, U.S. benchmark crude lost 23 cents to $85.32 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped $1.92 to $85.55 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude, the pricing basis for international trading, sank 58 cents to $88.42 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 147.41 Japanese yen from 146.48 yen late Monday.