DJIA down 19.65 points (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - New York, 02 Jul - US shares were trading mixed at midday as investors digested comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and the latest jobs data.

Speaking in a panel discussion at conference in Portugal, Powell said Fed officials still wanted to see annual price growth slow further toward their 2% target before feeling confident high inflation had been beaten.

He acknowledged the data for April and May did suggest the US was getting back on a disinflationary path.

As the second half gets under way, monetary policy remains the key theme as investors try to fathom out whether the Fed has leeway to cut rates this year or not.

Stubborn inflation has led the central bank to put back the timetable for easing its policy and prompted traders to recalculate their expectations for the number of rate cuts this year.

On the data front,job openings in May rose to 8.140 million from 7.919 million the month before, according to data from the US Department of Labor.

Expectations were for 7.960 million openings.

Jobs are key to the debate about when the Fed can start cutting interest rates and whether it will be able to engineer a soft landing - taming inflation without triggering a recession.

Markets will close early tomorrow and will remain closed on July 4 for Independence Day.

At 1610 GMT, the Dow Jones was losing 19.65 points, or 0.05%, at 39,149.87 points.

The S&P 500 was 4.83 points, or 0.09%, higher at 5,479.92 points.

The Nasdaq was gaining 51.99 points, or 0.29%, at 17,928.92 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 02-07-24 17:19:53 (0583) 5 NNNN