US STOCKS-Wall Street lackluster; S&P 500, Dow set for this year's best week
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Tesla down on report co trims car production in China
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FedEx jumps on Q3 profit beat
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Nike falls after revenue forecast disappoints
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Indexes: Dow down 0.03%, S&P up 0.01%, Nasdaq down 0.06%
(Updated at 9:37 a.m. ET/1337 GMT)
By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shashwat Chauhan
March 22 (Reuters) -
Wall Street's main stock indexes struggled for direction on Friday, though they were on track for strong weekly gains as investors cheered the Federal Reserve's rate-easing stance.
All three main U.S. indexes hit fresh record closing highs on Thursday as chip stocks rallied after Micron Technology's upbeat forecast and the Fed signaled it was still on track for three interest-rate cuts this year.
Traders now see a 71% chance of the first rate cut hitting in June, from 56% at the start of this week, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool.
"With summer rate cuts now becoming somewhat more certain and a further recovery in bond yields looking unlikely, policymakers have provided fresh impetus to the bull market," said Raffi Boyadjian, lead investment analyst at XM.
Investors will also be closely monitoring commentary from a host of central bankers expected later in the day for further cues on the central bank's monetary policy trajectory.
The blue-chip Dow ended Thursday less than 1% away from its first-ever 40,000-mark. Along with the benchmark S&P 500, the Dow was on track to its best weekly performance so far this year.
Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was set to notch its best week since mid-January.
At 9:37 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 10.58 points, or 0.03%, at 39,770.79, the S&P 500 was up 0.66 points, or 0.01%, at 5,242.19, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 9.50 points, or 0.06%, at 16,392.33.
Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading lower, with consumer discretionary down 1.0%.
Most rate-sensitive megacap growth and technology stocks eased in early trading.
Tesla led losses, down 3.3%, following a report that the EV maker has reduced car production at its plant in China.
Nevertheless, the EV maker and many of the other market leaders were set for strong weekly gains. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has gained nearly 3% so far this week.
Nike shed 8.0% after the world's largest sportswear maker warned that its revenue in the first half of fiscal 2025 would shrink by a low-single-digit percentage, as it scales back on franchises to save costs.
Lululemon Athletica forecast annual revenue and profit below expectations as demand wanes for the apparel retailer's premium athleisure, mainly in North America, sending its shares tumbling 14.8%.
FedEx jumped 8.7% after the company beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit and operating margin in the parcel delivery firm's largest unit, Express, rose 2.5% in the February fiscal quarter from 1.2% a year ago.
Digital World Acquisition gained 4.4% ahead of its shareholders' vote to approve the blank-check firm's merger with former U.S. President Donald Trump's media and technology company.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.21-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.23-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 37 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 41 new highs and 23 new lows.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Maju Samuel)
