US STOCKS-Wall St inches lower after Fed Chair Warsh reaffirms inflation fight

Wall Street's main indexes were lower in afternoon trade on Friday, with investors turning cautious after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh reiterated the central bank's focus on fighting inflation. Without confidence that inflation is heading clearly and with sufficient speed to the Fed's 2% goal, the ‌central bank would have "more work to do," Warsh said in his first Jackson Hole speech. Traders added to bets on a September rate hike after Warsh also said he felt recent inflation data did not suggest a change in trend. Traders are now split between a rate hike and a hold in September, as they were before inflation data this month painted a mixed picture. "Why the market is modestly reacting is he (Warsh) is very adamant that ‌the 2% inflation target is going to remain. He is reiterating the hawkishness, but in a more of a consistent way than an incremental way," said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist for Nationwide. "There's ‌been somewhat misguided thoughts among investors that this would soften a little bit. Clearly, that's not the case." Warsh's speech rounds out a busy week packed with results from corporate heavyweights such as Nvidia and Salesforce , alongside a batch of fresh economic data. "Warsh's speech suggests that a hike in September is possible if the August CPI and PPI (producer price index) come in firmer, but we continue to expect that core CPI and PCE inflation will print around 0.2% in August and that the FOMC will ⁠remain on hold," ​said Goldman Sachs economist Jan Hatzius in a note. Chip ⁠stocks were mixed, pulling back from the previous session's rally sparked by Nvidia's blockbuster forecast that signaled the AI-driven boom had further to run. At 1:57 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 43.53 points, or 0.08%, to 53,531.23, the S&P ⁠500 lost 21.30 points, or 0.28%, to 7,709.69 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 123.02 points, or 0.46%, to 26,418.33. Nvidia slipped 3.9%. Marvell Technology lost 9.9% on doubts over the timing of revenue from its AI chip agreement with Alphabet's Google despite ​an increase to its 2027 revenue forecast. The CBOE Volatility Index, widely known as Wall Street's "fear gauge", briefly touched its lowest level since December. It was last flat at 14.5. Most megacap ⁠stocks were higher. Alphabet gained 1.7%, making the S&P 500 communication services sector the biggest boost to the index. Salesforce extended gains from the previous session, providing support to the Dow. The stock was up 3.3%. PayPal fell 12% the day after Bloomberg News reported that a ⁠consortium ​of buyout firm Advent and payment processor Stripe had decided to abandon their pursuit of the payments firm. Gap's shares advanced almost 12% as the retailer named industry veteran Michael Francis as Old Navy's new CEO and raised its annual profit forecast. Ulta Beauty fell 4% after the cosmetics retailer's comparable sales growth dropped in the second quarter. Wall Street's main indexes remained on track for weekly gains. If levels hold through ⁠close, the indexes could claw back ground lost last week after surging bond yields hammered stocks. Separately, the final reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey stood at 51.7, compared with ⁠estimates of 51, according to economists polled by Reuters. Declining issues ⁠outnumbered advancers by a 1.8-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 133 new highs and 92 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 1,509 stocks rose and 3,144 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.08-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 5 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows ‌while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 46 new ‌highs and 96 new lows.