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Stock market today: US stocks hold steady in wait for Fed speakers, key inflation print

US stocks trod water on Monday, coming off a winning week on Wall Street, as investors looked ahead to Federal Reserve speakers and a key inflation reading for clues to the odds of another big rate cut.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DI) was little changed, hovering above Friday's record close for the blue-chip index. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose roughly 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 0.3%.

The market is laboring with concerns about the health of the US economy, which have persisted after the Fed's bold pivot to cutting interest rates last week. The big question now is whether upcoming data releases this week will support Fed Chair Jerome Powell's assertion that conditions remain strong.

Much will depend on Friday's reading on the PCE index — the Fed's preferred inflation gauge — and Thursday's second quarter GDP print. Experts believe that cooling inflation, not a rising risk of recession, will give policymakers a green light for another 0.5% cut this year.

Before then, investors will hope to get more policy insight from speeches by a panoply of Fed officials, starting with Austan Goolsbee and Raphael Bostic on Monday. Given the rare lack of unanimity in the last decision, remarks from Powell and dissenting Fed governor Michelle Bowman later in the week are likely to be closely scrutinized.

On the corporate front, Intel (INTC) shares climbed after Apollo Global Management reportedly offered to make a multibillion-dollar investment in the struggling chipmaker — a vote of confidence in its turnaround strategy. Intel stock spiked at the end of last week amid a report Qualcomm (QCOM) was exploring a takeover.

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Fed’s Kashkari says cutting rate was right decision, still sees monetary policy as 'tight'

Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari released an essay on Monday on why he supported cutting interest rates last week, and argued monetary policy is still too tight.

Kashkari wrote “cutting the policy rate by 50 basis points last week was the right decision — one that reflects both the substantial progress we’ve made in lowering inflation and also the softening of the labor market. “

His comments follow the Federal Open Market Committee’s decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points last Wednesday.

“While there remain mixed signals about the underlying strength of the U.S. economy and I remain uncertain just how tight policy is, I do believe policy remains tight today,” wrote Kashkari.