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Boeing rises on Uzbekistan deal, potential China order

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AutoZone ( AZO ) falls after Q4 profit falls short of estimates

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Powell strikes middle path on inflation, jobs

(Updates to close)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK Sept 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks finished lower

on Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S.

central bank needs to balance inflation concerns with a

weakening job market in its coming interest rate decisions.

The Nasdaq led declines, with shares of Nvidia ( NVDA ) down

after rising in the previous session, when the chipmaker said it

plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI.

Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Apple ( AAPL )

also were lower, while shares of AutoZone ( AZO ) were down

after it reported fourth-quarter profit that missed estimates.

In comments Tuesday, Powell offered little hint of when he

thinks the Fed might next cut interest rates. The Fed last week

cut rates for the first time this year and indicated further

cuts may be coming.

"The big event of the day was Powell's speech. He was

somewhat on the dovish side, but also he showed cautiousness,

and that indicates that while he left the door open for another

rate cut, there was really no hint of when and how much the next

rate cut could be," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist

at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

"The market began to sell off on that," he said, adding: "It

was also ripe for some sort of a pullback." The three major U.S.

indexes registered record closing highs for the previous three

sessions.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500

lost 36.57 points, or 0.55%, to end at 6,657.18 points,

while the Nasdaq Composite lost 214.84 points, or 0.93%,

to 22,577.34. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 82.46

points, or 0.18%, to 46,299.08.

Powell's colleagues earlier gave comments on both sides of the

policy argument. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman

said the Fed could downplay concerns about persistent inflation

and needed to make a commitment to cut rates in support of the

job market.

Helping to limit declines on the Dow, Boeing edged higher after

it secured an order from Uzbekistan Airways worth over $8

billion.

Investors were also watching shares of Kenvue ( KVUE ), the

maker of popular pain medication Tylenol. They were up on

Tuesday. They closed 7.5% lower on Monday ahead of U.S.

President Donald Trump's comments linking autism to childhood

vaccine use and the taking of Tylenol by women when pregnant.

(Additional reporting by Niket Nishant, Purvi Agarwal, and

Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)