Indices weighed by a second straight session of losses in technology shares
U.S. stock-market indices closed lower on Monday, 12 June 2017 weighed by a second straight session of firm losses in technology shares. The stock market opened the week with its second-consecutive decline as the top-weighted technology sector weighed on the broader market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped three days of gains to close down 36.30 points, or 0.2%, at 21,235.67. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index remained under pressure. Overcoming a 97-point deficit on the session, the index closed down 32.45 points, or 0.5%, at 6,175.46. The S&P 500 index finished down 2.38 points, or 0.1%, at 2,429.39, overcoming a nearly 12-point deficit earlier.
Six of the benchmark's 10 sectors closed lower led by the technology sector.
Losses in shares of Apple and McDonald's offset gains from shares of General Electric and Chevron Corp.
At the beginning of Monday's session, it appeared that Wall Street may duplicate Friday's sector rotation trade; tech stocks opened sharply lower while financials and energy stocks opened distinctly higher. However, the three sectors quickly retraced a portion of their early moves with the financial sector actually entering negative territory within two hours of the opening bell. The financial space came back a bit in the afternoon, but never returned to its early-morning high.
As the week kicks off, investors are also focused on the Federal Reserve, which on Wednesday is widely anticipated to deliver an interest-rate hike.
Also Read
The Fed's two-day meeting will wrap up on Wednesday, where a dollar-supportive rate increase is widely expected, but not guaranteed. Wall Street is pricing in a 95.8% chance of a lift to U.S. benchmark rates, which would follow the European Central Bank's decision last Thursday to keep its rates steady.
The U.K. general election ended Friday in a hung parliament, where no single party holds a majority.
Meanwhile, the dollar, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index traded nearly flat on Monday after posting a gain for last week. A stronger dollar can provide a headwind for commodities priced in the currency, making it more expensive to buyers using other monetary units.
Shares in Apple finished down 2.5% on Monday. It is the second time in a week that the iPhone maker has been downgraded, with the more bearish view once again stemming from concerns that optimism over the iPhone 8 has been baked into the stock.
On the upside, General Electric finished up 3.6% following news that CEO Jeff Immelt is retiring after nearly 16 years at the helm of the company and will be replaced by John Flannery, currently president and CEO of GE Healthcare.
Bullion prices ended lower on Monday, 12 June 2017 at Comex. Gold prices ended lower Monday, stretching their streak of declines to a fourth session as this week's focus now turns squarely on the Federal Reserve.
August gold fell $2.50, or 0.2%, at $1,268.90 an ounce. The settlement handed the contract its fourth-straight drop. July silver gave up 27.9 cents, or 1.6%, to $16.944 an ounce.
Oil prices settled higher on Monday, 12 June 2017 following last week's drop of nearly 4%, as traders look ahead to the weekly update on U.S. petroleum supplies, as well as monthly reports on U.S. shale crude production and global output figures from OPEC and the International Energy Agency due out this week.
July West Texas Intermediate crude tacked on 25 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $46.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. August Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 14 cents, or 0.3%, to $48.29 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.
> Investors did not receive any economic data on Monday. Tomorrow's economic calendar will also be light with just one report--May PPI (consensus 0.0%) on the docket. The report will be released at 8:30 ET.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content