As investors wait for Powell's speech, U.S. markets are shaky.

Stock Market News                                                                        Dated:-22-08-2023 

As investors wait for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central bank's annual conference on Friday, U.S. stocks are shaky, with the tech sector leading advances.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 113 points, or 0.3%, at 11:12 ET (15:12 GMT), while the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.5%.

The major stock market indices ended Monday with mixed results; the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell marginally while the widely held S&P 500 rose 0.7%.

Although the yield on the 10-year Treasury soared to its highest level since November 2007, the highlight was provided by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which gained almost 200 points, or 1.6%, making it its greatest gain of the month.

In order to obtain exposure to the most expensive chip designer in the world ahead of Wednesday's quarterly earnings, investors heavily favored Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), which closed over 8% higher, the greatest increase in over three months.

Increasing retail sales

Retail will continue to be a priority. Tuesday saw the home improvement retailer Lowe's (NYSE:LOW) report a lesser-than-anticipated decline in quarterly comparable sales and beat profit forecasts thanks to an increase in sales from the postponed spring season and continued customer spending on smaller projects.

In spite of inflation slowing down compared to last year's rate, consumers have remained resilient. Retailers should be able to predict customer spending patterns before the crucial holiday shopping season.

Arm makes its IPO prospectus public.

The long-awaited initial public offering of SoftBank-owned (TYO:9984) Arm, which might be one of the largest U.S. flotations in over two years, has begun with the release of a preliminary prospectus for a Nasdaq listing.

For the largest-ever merger in the history of the video game business, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has submitted a revised version of its merger proposal with "Call of Duty" creator Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI).

Due are sales of existing homes.

Tuesday's economic data slate is basically empty. At 4.07 million annually, or a 16.6% decrease from the previous year, existing home sales were lower in July than anticipated. Analysts anticipated a 4.15 million annualized figure, a little decrease from the previous month.

However, the Fed's annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, beginning at the conclusion of the week, will be the main emphasis of the week. As investors seek clarification on the economic outlook and the trajectory of interest rates, Powell's speech on Friday will be the spotlight.

Prior to API inventories, crude prices decline.

Tuesday saw minimal movement in oil prices as traders cautiously assessed the possibility of a sputtering Chinese economic rebound and looked forward to further indications on U.S. monetary policy at the Jackson Hole symposium at the end of the week.

The American Petroleum Institute, a trade association, is also expected to reveal U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories later in the session, and on Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy's statistical division, will present its own data.