NEW YORK: US stocks edged lower on Monday, with technology and megacap stocks leading declines as investors worried about the impact of further interest rate hikes on the economy.
The main indexes see-sawed in morning trade as markets reacted to the aborted revolt by Russian mercenaries over the weekend that raised questions about President Vladimir Putin’s future and concerns about a possible disruption of Russian oil supply.
Growth stocks weighed the most on the main indexes, with Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Tesla falling between 2.7% and 4.9%.
Last week, US stocks sputtered after a recent rally, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq snapped its eight-week winning streak on Friday, after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled more interest rate hikes ahead.
“The Fed has talked about raising rates in a very choreographed message. So consensus has another rate hike in July, but remember that meetings not till July 26th and we’ve got a lot of runway in front of us that could change that view,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.
A slew of economic data including a key inflation gauge, durable goods and University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index is expected this week, as well as Powell’s speech that could throw light on Fed’s rate hike plans.
Most policymakers see at least two more quarter-point rate increases by the end of this year, though traders expect one more hike in July and see the US central bank holding rates steady through the end of 2023, according to CMEGroup’s Fedwatch tool.
At 12:15 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.51 points, or 0.01%, at 33,724.92, the S&P 500 was down 10.68 points, or 0.25%, at 4,337.65, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 95.56 points, or 0.71%, at 13,396.96.
Among single stocks, Pfizer Inc shed 3.8% after the drugmaker said it is discontinuing the development of an experimental obesity and diabetes drug due to elevated liver enzymes in patients in clinical studies.
Defense firms including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Corp and Raytheon Technologies slid between 0.9% and 2.0% following the revolt in Russia.
On the other hand, the S&P 500 energy sector gained 1.8% as oil prices rose.
Alphabet Inc fell 2.2% after UBS downgraded the stock to “neutral”, while Tesla Inc slipped 4.6% after Goldman Sachs cut the electric car maker’s rating to “neutral”.
Lucid Group jumped 7.0% after entering into an agreement with UK’s Aston Martin that will give the electric vehicle maker a 3.7% stake in the company.
PacWest added 5.3% after private-equity firm Ares Management said it had acquired a $3.5 billion specialty finance loan portfolio from the lender.
Carnival slumped 10.6% after the cruise operator forecast third-quarter earnings below Wall Street expectations.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.48-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and 1.06-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 17 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 42 new highs and 116 new lows.
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