Wall St closes lower as investors position for key data
Wall Street closed lower overnight as investors prepared for a round of economic data later this week, weighing reports on Fed nominees and comments from policymakers for clues about the interest rate outlook.
Nonfarm payroll figures for October and November will be released later this week, along with reports on retail sales, business activity and inflation. October employment data was delayed by the government shutdown earlier this quarter.
“Markets today are struggling with where to find leadership in terms of not wanting all the eggs in the AI basket and not having a lot of data yet,” said Carol Schleif, chief investment officer of BMO Family Office.
“People will be holding their breath this week before the job postings come in and whether they support further rate cuts.”
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their sharpest daily declines in more than three weeks on Friday amid concerns about inflation and debt-fuelled AI investments.
Investors also weighed a report that White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett’s candidacy for the Fed chair drew some backlash from people close to U.S. President Donald Trump.
With Jerome Powell’s term ending in May, speculation about a possible leader continues. Expectations of a dovish Fed chairman have fueled bets on a rate cut next year.
Also on Monday, New York Fed President John Williams said the central bank’s rate cut last week left the bank in a good position, while Fed Governor Stephen Miran argued that current inflation does not reflect true supply-demand dynamics.
Dow Jones Industrial Index decreased by 41.49 points (0.09 percent) to 48,416.56 points, S&P 500 Index decreased by 10.90 points (0.16 percent) to 6,816.51 points and Nasdaq Composite decreased by 137.76 points (0.59 percent) to 23,057.41 points.
Eight of the S&P 500’s 11 major industrial sectors rose, led by healthcare stocks, which rose 1.3 percent.
Information technology shares fell one percent, driven by ServiceNow, which fell 11.5 percent following a report that the cybersecurity company was in advanced talks to acquire startup Armis.
In other company action, Tesla rose 3.5 percent after CEO Elon Musk said the electric vehicle maker was testing its robotaxi without safety monitors in the front passenger seat.
iRobot lost 72.7 percent of its value after the Roomba vacuum cleaner maker filed for bankruptcy protection.
On the NYSE, declining issues were matched by advancing ones at a one-to-one ratio. There were 283 new highs and 93 new lows on the NYSE. On Nasdaq, declining stocks outnumbered advancers by a ratio of 1.76 to one, with 1,715 stocks advancing and 3,021 stocks falling.
The S&P 500 posted 30 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite posted 133 new highs and 198 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 17.13 billion shares, compared to the entire session’s average of 17.10 billion shares over the last 20 trading days.
