Stock market today: Wall Street quiet as markets look ahead to Nvidia results, latest inflation data

Wall Street was slow to gain traction in premarket trading Tuesday as markets look ahead to Nvidia’s earnings report and the government’s latest inflation data.

Futures for the S&P 500 were up less than 0.1% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were essentially unchanged a day after the index set an all-time high.

Filling the void before Nvidia’s highly anticipated earnings report on Wednesday, Paramount shares tumbled 6% after Edgar Bronfman Jr. withdrew his offer to buy Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, the controlling shareholder of the storied Hollywood studio.

A previously agreed to merger between Paramount and media company Skydance now appears poised to move forward after Bronfman told Paramount’s special committee of directors Monday night he was pulling his $6 billion bid.

Shares of Cava Group slid 9.3% after the Mediterranean fast casual restaurant chain disclosed significant insider stock sales. Cava boosted its full-year guidance last week while reporting strong sales and profit, pushing its shares to all-time highs.

Later Tuesday, the Conference Board issues its consumer confidence index for August.

In Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX picked up 0.4% after data from the statistics office on Tuesday showed the country’s second-quarter gross domestic product fell by 0.1% from the previous quarter.

The CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.1% and in London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.3%.

China’s industrial profits jumped 4.1% in July compared to the previous year, with overall profits for the first seven months increasing 3.6%, bringing hopes to the market amid sluggish domestic demand, a housing downturn and employment worries.

But additional tariffs on China are clouding its manufacturing prospects. Canada announced a 100% tariff on the import of Chinese electric vehicles and a 25% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum on Monday, with the measures set to take effect on Oct. 1.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4% to 17,874.67 and the Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.2% to 2,848.73.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed 0.5% higher at 38,288.62. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.2% to 8,071.20. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.3% to 2,689.15.

Oil prices eased from their recent highs, which had been driven by heavy fire between Israel and Hezbollah on Sunday. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 41 cents to $77.01 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 39 cents to $79.97 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar ticked up to 144.56 Japanese yen from 144.52 yen. The euro cost $1.1165, up modestly from $1.1161.

Semiconductor company Nvidia reports its latest financial results on Wednesday. Wall Street’s mania around artificial intelligence has vaulted Nvidia’s market value above $3 trillion.

The key economic report for investors this week will come on Friday, when the the government serves up its latest data on inflation with the PCE, or personal consumption and expenditures report, for July. It is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation. Most market watchers are betting that the Fed will cut its benchmark lending rate at its September meeting, barring an unexpectedly steep rise in prices.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% Monday, remaining within 0.9% of its record set in July. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.9%, pulled down by several technology companies that tend to tip the market because of their big values. The Dow rose 0.2%, to 41,240, eclipsing its previous high set in mid-July.

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