U.S. Stocks Mixed as Investors Await CPI Data, Fed Minutes

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were mixed to start the week as investors looked forward to consumer price data and the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting.

At 10:21 ET (14:21 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 28 points, or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.6%.

In the U.S. the bond market is closed Monday for Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples' Day, and stock markets in Japan, South Korea and Canada are closed for holidays.

The minutes of the Fed’s September meeting could give some extra glimpse of how policymakers are thinking as they try to tame inflation without setting off a recession, though Fed officials have talked in recent weeks about their determination to get inflation under control.

Wall Street tumbled on Friday after the September report on jobs was stronger than expected, giving the Fed reason to continue its aggressive rate hikes. Markets are predicting a nearly 90% chance of another 0.75 percentage point increase in November, Reuters reported. 

Also today, there will be public appearances by Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard. Evans said the Fed should be able to cool inflation without a big jump in unemployment. "I think we can bring inflation down relatively quickly while also avoiding a recession," Evans said.

Big banks will start to report their third-quarter earnings later this week as investors worry about the effect of rising rates on company revenue and profit, and in the case of banks, on the quality of their loan books.

JPMorgan Chase&Co (NYSE:JPM) shares rose 0.4% on Monday, while Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) rose 0.2% and Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) shares fell 0.7%.

Oil wobbled. Crude Oil WTI Futures were flat at $92.63 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures fell 0.2% to $97.77 a barrel. Gold Futures fell 1.7% to $1682.