Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 13, 2025.
Danielle DeVries | CNBC
The S&P 500 was little changed Monday as the market tried to bounce back after Friday’s steep sell-off.
The broad market index inched down around 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 151 points, or 0.4%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq fell 0.6%.
Shares of major tech companies came under pressure, leading the Nasdaq Composite lower on the day and briefly into negative territory for 2025. Palantir tumbled 10%, pulling the Nasdaq lower. Microsoft shed about 1% after an analyst report from TD Cowen said the company is cutting spending on data centers, raising fears of weakness in the artificial intelligence trade.
The moves follow the stock market’s fall last week. The Dow and Nasdaq finished the week more than 2% lower, while the S&P 500 shed more than 1%. On Friday alone, the Dow pulled back more than 700 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped 1.7% and 2.2% each.
Those declines came after February data raised concern over the state of the U.S. economy. Purchasing managers’ index numbers showed the U.S. services sector contracted for the month, while the widely followed University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index came in weaker than expected.
The week ahead includes key readings on corporate earnings and the economy. Earnings reports from Home Depot and Lowe’s on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, will give investors a better sense of how U.S. consumers are faring. Nvidia’s earnings report on Wednesday evening could be even more impactful, as the artificial intelligence-linked chipmaker is still one of the biggest stocks by market cap.
Then Friday will deliver the January reading of the personal consumption expenditures index, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation.
“Friday’s PCE for January will be extra important for markets, because it will help to confirm if inflation did indeed spike at the start of 2025, since the other January inflation readings, such as CPI and PPI, came in very strong for January,” said Clark Bellin, president and chief investment officer at Bellwether Wealth.
However, “Regardless of what Friday’s PCE says, it’s likely that the Federal Reserve remains on hold when it comes to any interest rate decision for at least the next 6-months,” Bellin added.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the move in the Nasdaq Composite last week.
