Stock market today: Wall Street opens flat as economic reports bring few surprises

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are falling after several economic reports were close to expectations. The S&P 500 was little changed at the start of trading Thursday, on track to post its fourth consecutive gain of the past five weeks. After a volatile summer, it’s back within 2% of its all-time high recorded in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 59 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.1%. In the bond market, Treasury yields were relatively stable as reports on layoffs and inflation contained few surprises. Moderna shares fell after the company said it would cut research and development spending.

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Wall Street was up slightly before the close on Thursday, as the market attempts to make up more of last week’s losses this week.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were up just under 0.2% each before the market opened.

Investors are focusing on several earnings reports and corporate news ahead of the release of the government’s wholesale price index and jobless claims figures later on Thursday morning.

Moderna shares fell about 7% at the open after the company cut its fiscal 2025 revenue outlook to well below Wall Street’s targets. The company has seen its sales plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic and also cut its research and development investment by 20% from $20 billion to $16 billion between 2025 and 2028.

The latest government report on U.S. inflation released Wednesday showed overall inflation slowing to 2.5% in August from 2.9% in July, slightly faster than expected. But excluding food and energy, prices rose more than expected from July to August, which economists say is a better predictor of inflation’s direction.

The data appears to support the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate when it meets next week, its first cut in more than four years. The concern is that the cut may come too late, with American consumers already feeling the strain of high prices.

Across the Atlantic, the European Central Bank is expected to announce interest rate cuts to jump-start the struggling economy, though analysts don’t expect a wave of big cuts from the ECB because lower energy prices have slowed inflation considerably.

As of midday, France’s CAC 40 was up 0.8%, Germany’s DAX was up 1.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.8%.

In Asia, Japan’s stock benchmark Nikkei rose 3.4 percent to close at 36,833.27, though the gain partly reflected an earlier sharp sell-off.

The recent weakening of the yen has been a boon for some stocks, as overseas earnings become more valuable when converted into yen. Toyota Motor Corp. rose 3.8% and Nintendo Co. rose 1.5%.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 142.54 yen from 142.28 yen, while the euro fell slightly to 1.1014 dollars from 1.1017 dollars.

Nippon Steel Corp. shares rose 1.8% after the Japan Business Federation, an association of Japan’s leading companies, expressed concerns about “political interference” in Nippon Steel Corp.’s proposed takeover of U.S. Steel Corp. in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. U.S. Steel Corp. shares closed up about 7% the previous day.

“If this political interference were to become widespread, it would severely harm the U.S. investment climate,” said the letter, also signed by groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Global Business Alliance and the Automotive Innovation Coalition.

Yellen oversees a government committee considering the acquisition, but the White House has recently signaled it would block the deal.

Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1% to 8,075.70. South Korea’s KOSPI rose 2.3% to 2,572.09. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.8% to 17,240.39, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.2% to 2,717.12.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.12 to $68.43 a barrel, while the international standard Brent crude added $1.07 to $71.68 a barrel.

Yuri Kageyama And Matt Ott, The Associated Press