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Apple, Alphabet, Amazon slide ahead of earnings
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Fed decision on interest rates on Wednesday
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J&J falls after U.S. court rejects talc-lawsuit strategy
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Indexes down: Dow 0.37%, S&P 500 0.95%, Nasdaq 1.59%
(Recasts with midafternoon trading)
By Lewis Krauskopf, Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian
NEW YORK, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Major U.S. stock indexes
fell on Monday, dragged lower by declines in technology and
other megacap shares, as investors looked toward a major week of
events including central bank meetings and a slew of earnings
reports.
The tech sector slumped 1.7%, with most sectors
trading lower. Shares of Apple Inc , Amazon.com Inc and Google parent Alphabet Inc , which are all
due to post results later this week, dropped over 1%.
More than 100 S&P 500 companies are expected to report
results this week, which also includes central bank meetings in
the United States and Europe and closely watched U.S. employment
data.
“The market has had a big run and the trading is a bit more
cautious heading into a week which likely will be an inflection
point for the overall market,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief
investment officer at Truist Advisory Services.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 125.11 points,
or 0.37%, to 33,852.97, the S&P 500 lost 38.49 points, or
0.95%, to 4,032.07 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped
184.56 points, or 1.59%, to 11,437.15.
U.S. Treasury yields rose, providing another pressure point for tech shares that have otherwise rebounded to start the year after a rough 2022. Despite Monday's declines, the S&P 500 was on track to post its biggest January gain since 2019.
The U.S. central bank is seen hiking the Fed funds rate by
25 basis points at the end of its two-day policy meeting on
Wednesday, following a 2022 in which the Fed aggressively hiked
rates to control soaring inflation.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell's news conference will be
scrutinized for signs of how high rates may go and how long they
could stay elevated. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is
expected to deliver another large rate hike on Thursday.
Investors are also focused on earnings reports, amid
concerns the economy may be facing a recession. With more than
140 companies having reported so far, S&P 500 earnings are
expected to have fallen 3% in the fourth quarter compared with
the prior-year period, according to Refinitiv IBES.
In company news, shares of Johnson & Johnson fell
over 3% after the healthcare giant's strategy to use bankruptcy
to resolve the multibillion-dollar litigation over claims its
talc products cause cancer was rejected by a federal appeals
court.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.81-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.73-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and no new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 51 new highs and 14 new lows.
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, and Shreyashi Sanyal
and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru
Editing by Anil D'Silva and Matthew Lewis)
