By Sinéad Carew and Lisa Pauline Mattackal
(Reuters) – Wall Street's three main indexes closed down about 1% on Monday, while Treasury yields rose, as traders reduced bets on an easing of U.S. interest rates. Federal Reserve and were concerned about the impact of the Middle East conflict on oil prices.
While awaiting quarterly earnings season and new economic data, investors were also bracing for another major hurricane, Milton, which is expected to hit the United States this week. Relief efforts are underway after Helene, a Category 4 hurricane, killed more than 200 people in six states.
Also dampening sentiment further on Monday was a US judge's order for Google, market heavyweight Alphabet (NASDAQ:), to overhaul its mobile app business to give Android phone users more options. Analyst reports also boosted sales for amazon.com (NASDAQ:) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:).
After Friday's better-than-expected jobs report, traders pulled back their bets on a 50 basis point rate cut in November. They were pricing in an 86% chance of a 25 basis point cut and a roughly 14% chance that the central bank wouldn't cut rates at all, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
The change in rate cut expectations sparked a rally in US Treasury yields, with the benchmark 10-year bond yield exceeding 4% for the first time in two months.
In addition to next month's Federal Reserve meeting, investors are awaiting September's Consumer Price Index inflation reading and the start of third-quarter earnings season with bank reports, both scheduled for this week.
“It's a combination of things from the last few days: the jobs report, the hurricane damage, elevated energy prices and the negative commentary on some of the large-cap tech names,” said Michael James, managing director of trading. of Wedbush stock. Values in Los Angeles.
“All of that combined makes for an edgy day, and Google's headlines tipped things toward more aggressive selling in the last hour.”
James pointed to the Middle East conflict as a concern for American investors who are concerned about the economic impact of the war, including rising oil prices.
Investors remain concerned about how Israel would respond to Iran's missile attacks. On Monday, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into the Israeli city of Haifa, as Israeli forces appeared set to expand ground attacks into southern Lebanon.
They fell 398.51 points, or 0.94%, to 41,954.24, lost 55.13 points, or 0.96%, to 5,695.94 and lost 213.94 points, or 1.18%, to 17,923.90 .
Wall Street's fear gauge closed up 3.4 points at 22.64, marking its biggest one-day point gain in more than a month and its highest closing level since Aug. 8.
Among the 11 major S&P 500 industrial indexes, only energy advanced, finishing up 0.4%. Futures rose 3.7% for their fifth consecutive advance on concerns about supply disruptions in the Middle East. (EITHER)
The industry that lagged the most was utilities, down 2.3%, followed by communications services, which came under pressure from Alphabet's 2.5% drop.
The biggest drag on the S&P 500 benchmark by a single stock was Apple, after Jefferies assumed coverage with a “hold” rating, sending the stock down 2.3%. amazon.com ended down 3% after a rating downgrade from Wells Fargo.
Among the benchmark's biggest gainers was Generac Holdings (NYSE:), which added 8.52% as investors bet on strong demand for backup power generators due to the impending hurricane.
Actions of Pfizer (NYSE:) rose 2% after a report that activist investor Starboard Value has taken a roughly $1 billion stake in the drugmaker.
Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE closed up 9.5% following a report that activist hedge fund Mantle Ridge has built a position in the company.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 2.73 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where there were 222 new highs and 55 new lows.
On the Nasdaq, 1,292 stocks rose and 2,988 fell, as declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 2.31 to 1. The S&P 500 posted 34 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 83 new highs and 118 new lows.
On US stock exchanges, 11.39 billion shares changed hands, compared to the average of 12.06 billion in the last 20 sessions.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
