(C) Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 22, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street lost ground on Monday, with few catalysts to inspire much conviction as investors approach the midway point of a year in which stocks have been battered by heightened inflation worries and tightening Fed policy.
The major U.S. stock indexes were last modestly lower after oscillating through much of the session, with weakness in interest rate sensitive megacaps such as Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc providing the heaviest drag.
“It’s still very much a recovery market, after the sell-off we’ve seen,” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago. “I’m not sure the market has found the floor but …(that) will depend on how aggressively the Fed raises (interest) rates, and whether inflation declines or not.”
All three indexes appear set to notch two straight quarterly declines for the first time since 2015. They are also on course to post losses for June, which would mark three consecutive down months for the tech-heavy Nasdaq, its longest losing streak since 2015.
Rising oil prices helped put energy stocks out front, with economically sensitive smallcaps and semiconductors and transports also outperforming the broader market. [O/R]
Economic data surprised to the upside, with new orders for durable goods and pending home sales beating expectations and adding credence to U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s assertion that the economy is robust enough to withstand the central bank’s attempts to rein in decades-high inflation without sliding into recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 98.68 points, or 0.31%, to 31,402, the S&P 500 lost 15.22 points, or 0.39%, to 3,896.52 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 88.69 points, or 0.76%, to 11,518.93.
Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, energy stocks were the clear winners, while communication services suffering the largest percentage losses.
With several weeks to go until second-quarter reporting commences, 130 S&P 500 companies have pre-announced. Of those, 45 have been positive and 77 have been negative, resulting in a negative/positive ratio of 1.7 stronger than the first quarter but weaker than a year ago, according to Refinitiv data.
Shares of retail stock trading platform Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) Markets rose 4.6% after media reports said Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) changed the stock to “neutral” from “sell”.
But the broker double downgrade of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Global Inc’s shares to “sell” from “buy”, sent its stock sliding 9.9%.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.29-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.09-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and 29 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 21 new highs and 71 new lows.
Wall Street edges lower, weighed by growth stocks
