US stocks mixed as another Fed official backs rate cuts

Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on August 16, 2024. – US stocks edged lower in early trading Friday, as traders looked to lock in gains at the end of a positive week for major Wall Street indices. Around 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1 percent at 40,518.87, and the S&P was 0.1 percent lower at 5,536.08. The Nasdaq slipped 0.2 percent to 17,566.08. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)

New York, United States — US stocks finished the day mixed on Monday, as another Federal Reserve policymaker came out in favor of starting interest rate cuts.

It is “hard to imagine” not cutting interest rates in September, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said Monday, a few days after Fed chair Jerome Powell said the time had come to start adjusting monetary policy.

“The direction of change is down, and the time to adjust is now,” Daly said, signaling her support for a rate cut at Fed’s rate meeting next month.

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On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.2 percent at 41,240.52.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent to 5,616.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite lost 0.9 percent, closing at 17,725.76.

“I think people used today as an opportunity to take some near-term profits,” Sam Stovall, from CFRA, told AFP.

Tech stocks slipped, with Nvidia finishing the day down 2.3 percent ahead of quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. Broadcom slipped more than four percent.