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Stocks tumbled on Wall Street in the morning on Wednesday as tech companies slipped and pulled major indexes down again.
The S&P 500 was down 0.1% as of 10:17 a.m. in the East. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 33 points, or 0.1%, to 36,832, just above the record it had set the day before.
About 60% of the S&P 500 benchmark stocks have gained, but tech companies have a lot of influence in moving the index due to their massive size. Tech companies led the gains on Monday, but then dragged the broader market down on Tuesday.
Microsoft fell 2% and software maker Adobe fell 3.8%.
US crude oil prices rose 1.4%, providing solid gains for energy companies. Exxon Mobil was up 2.4%.
A mix of financial and healthcare companies also posted gains.
Bond yields were relatively stable. The 10-year Treasury rate decreased from 1.66% to 1.65%.
European markets rose and Asian markets closed the night mostly lower.
Investors are spending the first week of the new year intensely with a wide range of economic data. The latest reports on different sectors of the economy and the job market come as Wall Street continues its assessment of the potential economic impact of rising inflation and the recent wave of COVID-19 cases.
Later Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its last policy meeting in December, likely to shed more light on how the central bank will change its policy in the face of ever-increasing inflation. The Fed has already said it plans to accelerate the withdrawal of its bond purchases, which helps keep interest rates low. Investors are looking for any signals as to when it will eventually raise the benchmark interest rate.
On Thursday, the Institute for Procurement Management will release its December services sector index, giving Wall Street a better picture of how the economy’s largest sector is handling the recent COVID-19 case spike from the highly contagious omicron variant.
On Friday, the Department of Labor will release its monthly employment report for December.
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