Shares of American Express and Home Depot weighed on blue chips
U.S. stocks fell for a fourth session in a row Tuesday, 14 June 2016 marking the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average's longest losing streak since the market's low in February. Investors grappled with mixed signals from lower oil prices, stronger-than-expected retail sales and geopolitical uncertainty roiling European markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 57.66 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 17,674.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 4.89 points, or 0.1%, to close at 4,843.55. The tech-laden index's four-day decline is the longest since it fell for seven straight sessions in April. The S&P 500 Sshed 3.74 points, or 0.2%, to close at 2,075.32.
Shares of American Express and Home Depot weighed on blue chips.
The growing possibility that the U.K. might leave the EU has rattled global markets this week, weighing on riskier assets such as commodities, and boosting safe-haven investments like the dollar.
On Tuesday, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index was up about 0.5%. Strength in the greenback can typically weigh on dollar-denominated commodities.
U.S. equity indices opened on a choppy note as investors weighed on-going developments in "Brexit" polling. Overnight, European indices trended lower as polling showed building momentum around the U.K.'s "Leave" camp. In response, risk assets continued to fall out of favor in Europe while sovereign bonds saw increased demand. On that note, the yield on the 10-yr Bund fell into negative territory, marking an all-time low.
This week, the U.S.'s Federal Open Market Committee and Bank of Japan are holding interest-rate policy meetings that could impact precious-metals trading. The Federal Reserve isn't expected to announce any change in key policy in its statement Wednesday but it could lay some groundwork for future action. Higher interest rates tend to push up the dollar.
Today's economic data at Wall Street included Import and Export Prices for May, May Retail Sales, and Business Inventories for April. Import prices increased 1.4% in May due primarily to higher fuel prices. Excluding fuel, they were up 0.3%. May marked the second straight month of increases for nonfuel import prices, which are still down 1.7% year-over-year. Export prices were up 1.1% in May. Excluding agriculture, they advanced 1.0%.
Separately, retail sales increased 0.5% in May (consensus +0.3%) while retail sales excluding autos increased 0.4% (consensus +0.4%). Notably, there were no revisions to the prior month, which saw the strongest monthly sales gain since Mach 2015. That is a favorable development for second quarter GDP since these sales factor into the computation of the goods component for personal consumption expenditures.
Also, total business inventories increased 0.1% in April (consensus +0.2%) after a downwardly revised 0.3% increase (from +0.4%) in March.
Bulion prices ended in a mixed mode at Comex on Tuesday, 14 June 2016. While gold prices ended higher, silver slipped. Gold futures finished higher on Tuesday as investors sought the relative safety of haven assets ahead of next week's closely watched central-bank meetings. Gold futures had struggled to find direction during the session, weaving between losses and gains, as the U.S. dollar strengthened before Wednesday's decision on interest rates from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Gold for August delivery tacked on $1.20, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,288.10 an ounce. Prices have now tallied five daily gains in a row. July silver finished at $17.424 an ounce, easing back 1.9 cents, or 0.1%.
Crude oil prices sank to a more than three week low on Tuesday, 14 June 2016 at Nymex as the prospect of bigger U.S. crude stocks indicate the global oil glut could be more stubborn than previously thought. Prices have climbed in recent months as wildfires in Canada and political upheavals in Africa wiped out some productions. U.S. output has also declined dogged by waning investment.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July was last down $0.73, or 1.5%, at $47.76 a barrel, after dropping to $47.55. August Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.76, or 1.4%, to $49.07 a barrel, the lowest level since early June. Earlier in the session, the grade fell to $48.91.
The Treasury complex ended lower with the yield on the 10-yr note rising one basis point to 1.62%.
Today's participation was above the recent average as more than 881 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.
Tomorrow's economic calendar includes the 7:00 ET release of the weekly MBA Mortgage Index. Meanwhile, May Core PPI (consensus +0.1%) and Empire Manufacturing for June (consensus -1.6) will cross the wires at 8:30 ET. At 9:15 ET, Industrial Production (consensus -0.1%) and Capacity Utilization (consensus 75.2%) will each be released. Finally, the day's data will be capped off with the June FOMC Rate Decision and April Net Long-Term TIC Flows, which will be reported at 14:00 ET and 16:00 ET, respectively.
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