Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – US stocks remained stable on Monday, slowing down the market’s scary roller coaster rides from recent weeks. But mild trading could be short-lived, with the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates coming later in the week continuing concerns about President Donald Trump’s trade war.
The S&P 500 went 0.1% higher in afternoon trading, losing four consecutive wins for the first week in a row. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 198 points (0.5%) as of 12:45pm east time, with the Nasdaq Composite down 0.4%.
Stocks have recently created uncertainty that Trump’s rat tariffs and other policies have created a huge uncertainty that will undermine the economy. The survey shows confidence has declined sharply, with some companies already warning about changes in customer behavior.
According to a report Monday, US retailers last month saw revenues increase than economists expected, but that may not have been as bad as it looks on the surface.
Much of the lack of growth and expectations was due to lower sales and reduced fuel costs than automobile sales. Outside of them, performances were closer to expectations.
Treasury yields first rose shortly after the release of the report. This is often a sign of establishing trust among bond investors regarding the strength of the US economy. However, soon after that, it becomes a yo-yo.
“In our view, this morning’s February retail sales report provides evidence of a limited and modest economy slowdown rather than showing a collection recession,” said Jennifer Timaman, investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
It’s a sharp turn for investors to talk about the potential recession after the US economy shut down last year, which has been running at a solid speed. The excitement at the time was also building on policies that come from Trump to accelerate growth. Certainly, employment remains relatively healthy, which could help sustain economic growth. But stories about the recession can sap self-confidence in themselves.
That’s the volatile phase that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will step up on Wednesday when he announced the Fed’s latest decision on interest rates.
In fact, no one expects the Fed to move on Wednesday. The central bank has stabilized rates so far this year and wants to see how terms unfold. Previously, towards the end of last year, it was being cut sharply in the hopes of easeing pressure on the US economy after high inflation slowed down.
Wall Street’s focus is on Powell saying about the rest of the year. It is still highly likely that the Fed will cut key interest rates at least two or three times in 2025. The risk of quickly or aggressively reducing interest rates is that they could boost inflation. However, maintaining the rate for a long time can lead to unnecessary pain in the economy by slowing down borrowing and overall activity.
On Wall Street, Intel has grown profits by 6.8% as CEO’s last WEK, following a former board member and a chip company named Lip Bubeutan, a veteran in the semiconductor industry.
Pepsico added 1.7% after saying it agreed to buy prebiotic soda brand Poppi for $1.65 billion.
They helped offset Tesla’s 6.7% drop. The electric vehicle company stock is struggling this year amid concerns that Elon Musk and the brand are so intertwined, who have led efforts to cut spending by the US government. Tesla vehicles and dealers have been targeted by people who are unhappy with Trump and his policies.
The bond market had mixed yields from the Ministry of Finance. The 10th Treasury yield went from 4.28% shortly before the release of the Retail Sales Report to nearly 4.33% shortly after. It then pulled back to 4.27% from a 4.31% level late Friday.
In overseas stock markets, indexes rose in most parts of Europe and Asia.
The Chinese market rose after the government reported stronger factory data than expected. Later on Monday, officials explained to reporters about Beijing’s efforts to make consumers spend more money, and were seen as key to pushing the economy out of the slump.
Stocks rose 0.8% in Hong Kong and 0.2% in Shanghai.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
Original issue: March 17, 2025 10:47am EDT
