Financial stocks fall as Trump calls for cap on credit card rate
Walmart shares gain, helping Nasdaq where its shares are now
Trump administration opens probe of Fed's Powell
Updates to close
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Dow registered record closing highs on Monday, with shares of technology companies and retailer Walmart gaining and as investors mostly brushed aside concerns about the U.S. Justice Department's criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Technology .SPLRCT was among the day's biggest sector gainers. Shares of Walmart WMT.O jumped, giving a boost to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, where the retail giant moved its stock listing last month from the NYSE.
Walmart is set to join the Nasdaq-100 index .NDX on January 20, a shift that could draw in billions of dollars from passive index funds.
Stocks had opened lower on the news surrounding Powell. The Justice Department's threat of indictment, ostensibly focused on comments Powell made to Congress about a building renovation project, ramped up concerns about the Fed's independence.
Powell called the move a "pretext" to gain more influence over interest rates that President Donald Trump has pressed to cut sharply since he took office in January 2025.
"The news that Powell is being investigated by the Justice Department was basically telegraphed by Trump many times and so I think the market is taking it in stride," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
Investors also are looking ahead to the fourth-quarter U.S. earnings season, he said, which unofficially begins Tuesday with results from JPMorgan Chase JPM.N and other big banks.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 10.35 points, or 0.15%, to end at 6,977.29 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 62.56 points, or 0.26%, to 23,733.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 80.50 points, or 0.16%, to 49,584.57.
Shares of lenders and credit card firms came under pressure after Trump called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10% starting on January 20.
Financials .SPSY were down and were among the biggest sector decliners in the S&P 500.
Citigroup C.N tumbled, while credit-card firm American Express AXP.N also fell as well as consumer finance firms, including Capital One COF.N.
Buy-now, pay-later firm Affirm Holdings AFRM.O also fell.
Investors await Tuesday's U.S. consumer price index report, which could influence the outlook for Fed rate cuts. Markets for now are betting on at least two more quarter-point cuts before year-end, according to LSEG data.
(Additional teporting by Medha Singh and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and David Gregorio)
((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com))
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