Wall St muted as investors pause ahead of big corporate earnings
By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes were subdued on Monday as investors took a breather after the previous week’s rally, awaiting results from major companies that could influence whether markets would sustain their record highs or decline.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 89.46 points, or 0.21%, to 43,186.45, the S&P 500 lost 4.31 points, or 0.07%, to 5,860.36 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 3.00 points, or 0.01%, to 18,491.32.
Treasury yields rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rising as high as 4.14%, pressuring rate-sensitive stocks.
The Real Estate sector lost 0.8% amid broader market declines. Consumer Discretionary was off 0.7%, weighed by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), which were down 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.
Of the so-called Magnificent Seven group of stocks, most slipped. However, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) gained 1.6% and 0.2%, respectively.
Most chip stocks also edged lower, sending the broader Semiconductor index down 0.2%.
Boeing (NYSE:BA)’s 5% jump kept losses on the Dow in check after news that workers could vote on a new deal to end a costly five-week-long strike.
A broadly positive start to the quarterly earnings season and upbeat economic data had propelled indexes higher over the past two weeks. The three major indexes logged a sixth consecutive week of gains on Friday, in their best winning streak so far this year.
“What we’re seeing today is a market that is basically taking a bit of a breather and probably consolidating some of those strong gains that we had last week,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist, Spartan Capital Securities.
“The market last week closed at record highs and despite the run up in yields… remains resilient because of the fact that the earnings are coming in better than expected.”
Optimism around earnings persisted ahead of the 114 S&P 500 companies that are scheduled to report results this week, including Tesla, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN). Of the companies that reported as of Friday, 83.1% beat earnings estimates, according to data compiled by LSEG.
However, risks such as rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, gains in Treasury yields and some volatility ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election are pressuring equities.
In broader markets, trades expected to perform well if Republican candidate Donald Trump wins in November were catching bids, as polls showed the former U.S. president’s chances improving. [MKTS/GLOB]
“As the election date approaches, even small changes in tight polls could drive seemingly erratic swings in market sentiment,” Danske Bank analysts said.
Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE) skyrocketed 33% after the company reached an agreement to extend a debt refinancing deadline by two months.
Humana (NYSE:HUM) gained 2.3% after a report said Cigna (NYSE:CI) had resumed merger talks with the health insurer.
Home sales, flash PMI and durable goods reports are on the data docket through the week, as is the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book.
Fed officials Neel Kashkari, Jeffrey Schmid and Mary Daly are scheduled to speak on the day.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.74-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 44 new highs and 12 new lows.