Stock market news for August 27, 2024

The S&P 500 rose slightly on Tuesday as investors looked ahead to a major earnings report later this week.

The broad market index gained 0.16% to close at 5,625.80, while the Nasdaq Composite crept 0.16% higher to end at 17,754.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 9.98 points, or 0.02%, to end at 41,250.50, its second record close in a row.

Investors are eager to see earnings from top artificial intelligence beneficiary Nvidia after Wednesday’s closing bell. Shares of the graphics processing unit manufacturer advanced about 1.5% on Tuesday. Nvidia has become a key bellwether for tech stocks and AI more broadly, and investors will look toward its fiscal second-quarter results to gauge the health of the AI trade.

“There’s very little economic data of importance until after Nvidia, so you really are in kind of a wait-and-see [situation],” said Baird analyst Ross Mayfield. “The trend in the market right now is a rotation away from tech and so Nvidia could change all of that tomorrow, but until then, I think the predominant trend in the market is going to be to stay put, and you kind of have this light volume, listless market as you wait.”

Stocks are also trying to find stable footing after a brutal start to the month. Investors have grown more optimistic, however, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled on Friday that the central bank’s next move will be to cut benchmark interest rates. Powell did not specify when, or by how much, interest rates would be reduced.

Traders are unanimously forecasting a rate cut at the central bank’s Sept. 17-18 policy meeting of at least 25 basis points, according to data from the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.