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Nvidia ( NVDA ) shares above $1,000 mark after results

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Boeing ( BA ) sees negative free cash flow in 2024

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Live Nation tumbles on DOJ lawsuit

(Updated at 4:00 p.m. ET/2000 GMT)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

May 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday,

even as a strong revenue forecast for Nvidia ( NVDA ) prompted a surge in

its shares, but that was overshadowed by economic data showing

inflation was still a concern that could delay any Federal

Reserve rate cuts.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) shares jumped to climb above the $1,000 per share

mark and helped boost the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to intraday records

in the early stages of trading after the AI chip company

forecast quarterly revenue above estimates and announced a stock

split.

But stocks lost ground after economic data showed U.S. price

pressures increased in May even as business activity accelerated

and as lower weekly jobless claims indicated the labor market

remains on firm footing.

"It may be speaks to the fact that people are now positioned

for disappointing growth data, slower inflation data, rate cuts,

and this morning... it caught people wrong footed," said Brian

Nick Senior Investment Strategist at The Macro Institute in New

York.

"Anything that looks like good news is still being greeted

as bad news, which shows we're still in this sort of Fed relief

rally period where the market's generally happy that interest

rates have stopped going up, but the worst thing would be for

interest rates to continue going up at this point."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost

38.44 points, or 0.72%, to end at 5,268.57 points, while the

Nasdaq Composite lost 65.28 points, or 0.39%, to

16,736.27. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 602.47

points, or 1.52%, to 39,068.57.

Treasury yields moved higher after the data, which weighed

heavily on small cap stocks, as the Russell 2000 saw its

biggest daily percentage drop in nearly a month.

The gains in Nvidia ( NVDA ) helped lift the S&P 500 tech index

as the sole advancer among the 11 major S&P sectors on

Thursday. But despite the gains in Nvidia ( NVDA ), semiconductors on the

whole were lower, with the PHLX semiconductor index down

on the session.

The rally in equities to record highs this month has been

fueled in part by AI optimism, a solid earnings season and

renewed hopes for rate cuts by the Fed this year. Nvidia ( NVDA ) shares

are up about 110% this year after surging roughly 240% in 2023.

Markets are now pricing in a 52.2% chance for a rate cut

of at least 25 basis points (bps) in September, down from the

nearly 67% a week ago, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

The Dow was dragged lower in part by a tumble in Boeing ( BA )

after the U.S. planemaker forecast negative free cash

flow in 2024 due to sluggish deliveries.

DuPont ( DD ) announced plans to split into three publicly

traded companies. Shares of the U.S. conglomerate ended modestly

higher, sharply off earlier levels.

Ticketmaster-owner Live Nation slumped after the

U.S. Justice Department and a group of 30 states and the

District of Columbia Thursday sued to break up the concert

promoter.