Yahoo Finance Yahoo Finance Sign in Search query Search for news or symbols Reuters Wall St indexes fall with inflation data and rates in focus Traders work on the floor of the NYSE in New York · Reuters Sinéad Carew and Purvi Agarwal Updated Wed, December 11, 2024 at 3:54 AM GMT+6 4 min read In This Article: ^GSPC -0.30% Digital Marketing Classes In The USA From Bangladesh More Affordable Digital Marketing Degree | Search Ads Ad By Sinéad Carew and Purvi Agarwal (Reuters) -Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Tuesday as technology sector losses offset gains in communications services while investors waited for key inflation reports that may influence the Federal Reserve's next interest rate decisions. Among the S&P 500's 11 major industry sectors, only three ended with gains a day ahead of the November reading of the Consumer Price Index, one of the last major reports ahead of the Fed's Dec. 17-18 meeting. Headline inflation is expected to have risen slightly in November to 2.7% from 2.6% in October. The Producer Price Index report will follow on Thursday. "There's a little bit of wait-and-see in the market ahead of the CPI and PPI data this week," said Mona Mahajan, head of investment strategy at Edward Jones. "Markets want to see a number that won't be too disruptive to the Fed next week." If the CPI comes in line with estimates, investors will expect an "all clear" for the Fed to lower rates by 25 basis points next week, she added. Traders see an 86% chance for a cut next week, CME's FedWatch Tool showed. Bets had jumped after Friday's news of an uptick in unemployment along with a rebound in job growth, which had slowed in October. Noting the S&P 500's roughly 27% gain for the year so far, Lindsey Bell, chief strategist at 248 Ventures in Charlotte, North Carolina, said investors are cautious ahead of the economic data and Fed meeting. "We're in a seasonally strong period of the year and investors are just kind of taking a breather," said Bell. Market participants will be watching out for signs that the U.S. central bank will pause its easing cycle in January, after a host of Fed officials last week hinted at a slower pace of monetary policy easing on the back of a resilient economy. "It's less about what the Fed does next week but what they say about the future trajectory of interest rates," said Bell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154.10 points, or 0.35%, to 44,247.83. The S&P 500 lost 17.94 points, or 0.30%, at 6,034.91 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 49.45 points, or 0.25%, to 19,687.24. Communication services, up 2.6%, was the biggest percentage gainer among S&P 500 sectors with help from a 5.6% rally in shares of Google-parent Alphabet after it unveiled a new chip. The biggest percentage decliner was real estate, falling 1.6%. The S&P's biggest index point drag was from technology, down 1.3%. It was weighed down by a 6.7% drop in Oracle shares after the cloud computing company missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter results.