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Dow -0.22%, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq +0.32%
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Services contracted in May for the first time in nearly a
year
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CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) falls on downbeat quarterly revenue forecast
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Fed lifts asset cap on Wells Fargo ( WFC ), shares hit 3-month
high
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GlobalFoundaries up on plans to increase investments
(Updates with percentages)
By Saeed Azhar, Kanchana Chakravarty and Sukriti Gupta
NEW YORK, June 4 (Reuters) -
U.S. stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, with the benchmark S&P
500 flat, the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite slightly up and
the Dow Jones Industrial Average down as weak data revealed the
economic toll taken by President Donald Trump's trade policies.
The services sector contracted in May for the first time in
nearly a year, while businesses paid higher input prices, a
reminder that the economy was still at risk of slowing growth
and rising inflation. Early gains in the S&P 500 evaporated
toward the close and trading volume was relatively light.
"Tariff impacts are likely elevating prices paid by services
sector companies," said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL
Financial.
The ADP National Employment Report showed U.S. private
employers in May added the fewest number of workers in more than
two years. Investors await Friday's nonfarm-payrolls data for
more signs on how trade uncertainty is affecting the U.S. labor
market.
Washington doubled tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to
50%, and Wednesday was also Trump's deadline for trading
partners to make their best offers to avoid other punishing
import levies from taking effect in early July.
Investors focused on tariff negotiations between Washington
and trading partners, with Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping
expected to speak sometime this week as tensions simmer between
the world's two biggest economies.
"If we can't get to an agreement on China, the tariff battle
will be a headline issue for many months to come and will have
an impact on both domestic and international economies," said
Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management.
May saw the biggest monthly increases for the S&P 500 index
and the tech-heavy Nasdaq since November 2023,
thanks to a softening of Trump's harsh trade stance and upbeat
earnings reports.
The S&P 500 remains more than 2% below record highs touched
in February.
Barclays joined a slew of brokerages in raising its year-end
price target for the S&P 500, pointing to easing trade
uncertainty and expectations of normalized earnings growth in
2026.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.90
points, or 0.22%, to 42,427.74, the S&P 500 gained 0.44
points, or 0.01%, to 5,970.81 and the Nasdaq Composite
gained 61.53 points, or 0.32%, to 19,460.49.
Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( HPE ) rose 0.8%
as demand for artificial-intelligence servers and hybrid cloud
segment helped second-quarter revenue and profit beat estimates.
GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) rose 2.3% after the chip
manufacturer announced plans to increase investments to $16
billion.
Shares of the fourth-largest U.S. bank Wells Fargo ( WFC )
ended 0.4% lower, although they briefly hit a three-month high
after the Federal Reserve lifted a longstanding $1.95 trillion
cap on its assets.
Wells Fargo ( WFC ) CEO Charlie Scharf told Reuters he expects
the bank to grow in all businesses including wealth, commercial
and investment banking and credit cards, but not mortgages.
Tesla fell 3.5% as the electric-vehicle maker's
sales dropped for the fifth straight month in big European
markets.
Shares of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) slumped
5.8% after it forecast quarterly revenue below estimates.
Dollar Tree ( DLTR ) dropped 8% as the discount store
operator forecast second-quarter adjusted profit could fall as
much as 50% from a year ago due to tariff-driven volatility.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 14.5
billion shares traded, compared to an average of 17.8 billion
shares over the previous 20 sessions.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.3-to-1
ratio on the NYSE. There were 223 new highs and 45 new lows on
the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by
a 1.18-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and no new lows
while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 84 new highs and 35 new
lows.