Wall Street today: US stocks trade mixed as investors await inflation data; Dow jumps over 70 points; S&P 500 flat

Wall Street traded mixed on Tuesday as investors awaited key US inflation figures and an Apple event expected to showcase the launch of new iPhones.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 79 points or 0.17% to trade at 45,594. Nasdaq, on the other hand, slipped 11 points or 0.05%, reaching 21,786. S&P 500 remained flat at 8.50 PM IST.

Producer and consumer price data are in sharp focus this week as markets gear up for the Federal Reserve’s 17 September policy decision, where the central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates.

Among individual movers, Apple shares fell 0.6% ahead of its product launch, where it is expected to unveil a super-thin “Air” version of the iPhone. The event comes as the tech giant faces growing pressure to show it is keeping pace in the fast-moving generative AI race.

US Treasury yields held steady after weeks of sharp declines, as expectations solidified that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates for the first time this year at its meeting next week.

A run of reports signalling a slowdown in the US jobs market has strengthened traders’ conviction that the Fed will see employment weakness as a bigger concern than the risk of worsening inflation due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs. While lower interest rates can give the economy a lift, they also carry the risk of fuelling inflation.

The latest warning sign for the labour market came as the US government revealed its previous estimate of nationwide employment in March may have been overstated by 911,000 jobs, or 0.6%. That revision came before Trump imposed tariffs on countries around the world in April, adding further uncertainty to the economic outlook and financial markets.