Wall Street eases back from its records as a relentless rally takes a breath

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street veered toward losses early Monday following another record-setting week that was propelled by the Federal Reserve's first interest rate cut of the year.

Futures for the S&P 500 shed 0.3% before the bell, while futures for the Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell 0.4%.

The Fed's rate cut last week has raised optimism on Wall Street that the U.S. central bank would keep lowering its benchmark lending rate to close out 2025, giving the economy extra fuel.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank may have to react quickly because recent data has shown that the U.S. labor market is not as strong as previously thought. Complicating the matter is inflation, which remains stubbornly high, possibly a byproduct of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Markets have largely shrugged off the latest inflation data, instead focusing more on the rate cuts it's expected to trigger.

“Every time the market seems to be running out of momentum, it fools most of us by pushing to higher heights,” said Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets.

“As traders continue to monitor new highs on a daily basis, they are really focused on what Fed officials will have to say as they make the speaking rounds this week.”

New Trump Fed appointee Stephen Miran will outline his economic and policy views at the Economic Club of New York later Monday. Powell is scheduled to speak about the U.S.'s economic outlook in Providence, Rhode Island on Tuesday.

In equities trading early Monday, T-Mobile shares slipped 1.2% after the telecom announced that Chief Operating Officer Srini Gopalan would replace Mike Sievert as CEO. Sievert was appointed to a newly created management position at the company.

Pfizer shares dipped 1.6% after it said it would spend $4.9 billion to acquire the development-stage obesity drugmaker Metsera. Metsera has no products on the market, but its pipeline includes four programs in clinical development and one in midstage testing.

In Europe, France's CAC 40 slipped 0.1% at midday, while the German DAX lost 0.6%. Britain's FTSE 100 inched up less than 0.1%.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.0% to finish at 45,493.66, rebounding from the decline late last week over concerns about the Bank of Japan's selling its holdings. Such concerns abated as markets began to see any move as gradual.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,810.90. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.7% to 3,468.65. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.8% to 26,344.14, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% to 3,828.58.