New York, Aug 20 (AP) Wall Street is holding a bit steadier following the prior day's swoon for Nvidia, Palantir and other darlings swept up in the mania around artificial-intelligence technology. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent in early trading Wednesday, coming off its third straight loss after setting an all-time high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 32 points, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.5 per cent. Mixed profit reports from big US retailers helped keep the market in check. Lowe's rose after the home-improvement retailer delivered a profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts' expectations.

Wall Street continues to drift Wednesday while news of a leadership change at Target took some of the spotlight away from the latest batch of corporate earnings reports.

Futures for the S&P 500 were 0.2 per cent lower before the bell, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched back just 0.1 per cent. Nasdaq futures fell 0.3 per cent.

Target tumbled 9 per cent after the struggling Minneapolis retailer said that CEO Brian Cornell plans to step down Feb 1. Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke, a 20-year company veteran, will succeed Cornell, who helped reenergise the company but has struggled to turn around weak sales in a more competitive post-COVID retail landscape.

Target also reported Wednesday that comparable store sales fell 1.9 per cent in the period, a measure that has been flat or declined in eight out of the past 10 quarters.

On the winning side was home improvement retailer Lowe's, which jumped 3.4 per cent after it beat Wall Street's sales and profit expectations. Lowe's also announced that it was acquiring Foundation Building Materials, a distributor of interior building products, for about USD 8.8 billion.

Estee Lauder slid 7.5 per cent after the makeup and beauty company reported an 8 per cent decline in sales in fiscal 2025 and a significant drop in adjusted per-share profit.

The week's biggest news for Wall Street is likely arriving on Friday, when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a highly anticipated speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The setting has been home to big policy announcements from the Fed in the past, and the hope on Wall Street is that Powell will hint that an interest rate cut is coming soon.

The Fed has kept its main interest rate steady this year, primarily because of the fear of the possibility that President Donald Trump's tariffs could push inflation higher. But a surprisingly weak report on job growth across the country may be superseding that.

In Europe, France's CAC 40 ticked up 0.2 per cent, while Germany's DAX dipped 0.3 per cent. Britain's FTSE 100 added more than 0.4 per cent despite a report that said inflation in the UK rose more than expected through July, in part due to soaring airfares and food prices.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 declined 1.5 per cent after Japan reported that its exports fell slightly more than expected in July, pressured by higher tariffs on goods shipped to the US Imports also fell from a year ago.

Tracking Tuesday's decline by Wall Street favorite Nvidia and other artificial-intelligence stars, Japanese computer-chip equipment makers Advantest plunged 5.7 per cent and Disco Corp. dropped 4.9 per cent. Chipmaker Tokyo Electron lost 1.4 per cent. and Lasertec Corp. lost 1.7 per cent.

The Taiex in Taiwan fell 3.0 per cent after chip maker TSMC dropped 4.2 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained nearly 0.2 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 1.0 per cent after China's central bank opted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged, as markets had expected.

Chinese toy company Pop Mart International Group's shares traded in Hong Kong soared 12.5 per cent after its CEO said its annual revenue could top USD 4 billion this year, more than quadrupling after more than doubling in the first half of the year. Its CEO also announced that the company was releasing a mini version of its popular Labubu dolls.

South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.7 per cent after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un condemned South Korean-US military drills that began this week. He vowed a rapid expansion of his nuclear forces to counter rivals, according to North Korean state media. (AP) RD RD

Monetary policy signals influence markets as investors await a key Fed speech while corporate earnings shift sector sentiment. Equity markets showed mixed movement as technology-led declines and company-specific developments coincided with investor attention on impending central bank guidance; traders anticipate a major policy speech for signals on interest-rate direction while trade policy and weaker employment data are noted as inflationary risks that may affect monetary decisions.