NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 U.S. stocks are coasting toward the finish of Wall Street\u2019s latest winning month on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% in midday trading but remains on track for a fifth straight winning month after setting a record last week<\/a>. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 170 points, or 0.4%, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower. <\/p>\n Oil-related companies weighed on the market after the price of crude fell again as traders see too much oil washing around the world. Schlumberger fell 4.4%, and Halliburton dropped 2.8%.<\/p>\n They helped offset a 12.8% jump for CoreWeave, which said Meta Platforms will pay up to $14.2 billion for a new order for cloud computing power made under its existing service agreement, with the potential for more.<\/p>\n Treasury yields eased in the bond market following a couple mixed reports on the U.S. economy. One said consumers are feeling less confident<\/a> than economists expected, with many respondents in the Conference Board\u2019s survey pointing to the slowing job market<\/a> and inflation that has remained higher<\/a> than anyone would like. <\/p>\n A second report suggested the job market may be remaining in its \u201clow-hire, low-fire\u201d state. U.S. employers were advertising roughly the same number of job openings<\/a> at the end of August as the month before. The hope on Wall Street had been for a number that\u2019s neither too high nor too low, one balanced enough to keep the Federal Reserve on track<\/a> to continue cutting interest rates.<\/p>\n The Fed just delivered its first cut of the year<\/a>, and officials have penciled in more through the end of next year to give the job market a boost. If data on jobs come in too strong, it could make the Fed less willing to cut rates. If the numbers are too weak, meanwhile, they could mean a recession is coming.<\/p>\n Either extreme would hurt the stock market, which has run to records from a low in April<\/a> in large part on expectations that the Fed<\/a> will cut rates several times. The stock market is already facing heavy criticism for being too expensive after prices ran so high. <\/p>\n Another potential wild card is hanging over the market, meanwhile. The U.S. government seems to be heading toward a shutdown<\/a> at the end of the day following another political impasse in Washington. <\/p>\n