US existing home sales fall short of estimates
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UK inflation falls less than expected, pound rises
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Markets cautiously optimistic as much rides on Nvidia
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Investors await rate clues from Fed minutes
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Oil slips again on worries over softening demand
NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) - Wall Street treaded water and gold prices fell on Wednesday as investors parsed mixed U.S. retail earnings and weak housing data, while looking ahead to Nvidia results and the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting.
All three major U.S. stock indexes were essentially unchanged in early trading with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite hovering close to their record closing highs.
"There’s this waiting game for Nvidia... and the market’s at an all-time high, so where do we going to go from here except maybe sideways?" said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT in Atlanta.
Mixed quarterly results from retailers Target and TJX raised questions about the resiliency of the U.S. consumer, while megacap chipmaker Nvidia Corp's earnings report after the bell could test the recent rally in U.S. stocks, largely driven by the promise of AI technology.
"It has been a long time since you had a company in this position in an industry and technology that could be so significant to so many parts of the economy, and it’s still at the early stages," Martin said.
"A lot of other companies are trying to compete with Nvidia, and there's all of this investment in infrastructure and it's all predicated on AI doing something meaningful in a short period of time," he added.
Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) most recent monetary policy meeting, due this afternoon, will be scrutinized for any insight on when and how many interest rate cuts can be expected this year.
In recent commentary, Fed officials have been urging patience regarding the timing of the central bank's pivot to a rate cutting phase while expressing doubts that inflation is reliably trending back toward the Fed's 2% goal.
Economic data released on Wednesday showed existing home sales came in below analyst estimates, while hotter-than-expected core inflation data from Britain prompted investors to pull their bets on a Bank of England rate cut next month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 24.23 points, or 0.06%, to 39,848.76, the S&P 500 lost 2.85 points, or 0.05%, to 5,318.56 and the Nasdaq Composite added 3.61 points, or 0.02%, to 16,836.23.
European shares pulled back as the stronger-than-expected British inflation data dampened the mood, which was already weighed down following a report about possible Chinese tariffs on imported cars.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.50% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.22%.
Emerging market stocks rose 0.14%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.28% higher, while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.85%.
Treasury yields rose ahead of the release of the Fed minutes.
Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 4/32 in price to yield 4.4276%, from 4.414% late on Tuesday.
The 30-year bond fell 1/32 in price to yield 4.5558%, from 4.554% late on Tuesday.
The dollar advanced against a basket of world currencies while the pound strengthened after Britain's hotter-than-expected core inflation reading.
The dollar index rose 0.13%, with the euro down 0.19% to $1.0833.
The Japanese yen weakened 0.20% to 156.50 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2727, up 0.16% on the day.
Crude prices slid for the third consecutive session on fears that prolonged restrictive Fed policy could take its toll on demand.
U.S. crude was unchanged at $79.26 per barrel and Brent was last at $82.14, down 0.89% on the day.
Gold prices plunged, backing down from recent record highs as investors girded themselves for the Fed minutes.
Spot gold dropped 1.4% to $2,388.82 an ounce.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp, additional reporting by Tom Wilson in London; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Target Corp (TGT.US)
TJX Companies (TJX.US)
NVIDIA (NVDA.US)