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Newmont drops on bid for Newcrest
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Chinese stocks fall on geopolitical jitters
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Indexes off: Nasdaq 1.04%, S&P 0.81%, Dow 0.53%
(Updates prices, details)
By Shubham Batra and Johann M Cherian
Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes edged lower on
Monday with Tyson Foods falling on disappointing quarterly
results, while investors reassessed their predictions on when
the U.S. Federal Reserve would start cutting rates.
The non-farm payrolls report on Friday that showed the U.S.
economy added jobs at a rapid pace spooked investors.
"Markets are looking ahead to a slower start ... today is a
bit of a rethink on when the Fed might have to cut rates," Art
Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Financial said.
"The consensus had been firmly in the camp of the fourth
quarter of this year, but with the red hot jobs number there is
a bit of a second guessing."
Traders will scrutinize speeches by Fed officials this week,
including Chair Jerome Powell, for any change in the central
bank's dovish rhetoric after data last week showed services
activity were strong in January.
Yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note extended
gains to more than a month's high. Money market participants see the Fed's terminal rate to
settle above 5% by May followed by rate cuts in September. After being bruised in 2022, U.S. equities have recovered
strongly in 2023, led by megacap growth stocks amid hopes that
the Fed will temper its aggressive rate hikes, which in turn
could alleviate some pressure on equity valuations.
Tyson Foods Inc slipped 5.8% on missing analysts'
estimates for quarterly revenue and profit.
More than 69% of the S&P 500 firms have reported results
above expectations, according to Refinitiv. Overall, analysts
still expect quarterly earnings of S&P 500 firms declining 2.8%.
Meanwhile, Tesla Inc bucked the overall trend with
a 1.3% gain after a U.S. jury on Friday found Chief Executive
Elon Musk and his company were not liable for misleading
investors when Musk tweeted in 2018 that he had "funding
secured" to take the electric-vehicle maker private.
At 10:24 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 179.60 points, or 0.53%, at 33,746.41, the S&P 500 was down 33.71 points, or 0.81%, at 4,102.77, and the
Nasdaq Composite was down 125.32 points, or 1.04%, at
11,881.64.
All of the 11 major S&P 500 indexes were in the red with the
real-estate sector slumping 1.5%.
Miner Newmont Corp slid 4.5% on its $16.9 billion
offer for Australian peer Newcrest Mining Ltd to build
a global gold behemoth. The materials sector dropped
1.4%.
U.S.-listed Chinese stocks such as Pinduoduo Inc and
Baidu Inc slid 4.9% and 3.0%, respectively, on
geopolitical concerns after a U.S. military fighter jet shot
down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South
Carolina on Saturday.
Traders will await earnings reports from Walt Disney Co , PepsiCo Inc and Abbvie Inc this week.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 4.53-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 2.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and one new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 43 new highs and 12 new lows.
(Reporting by Shubham Batra and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru;
Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Shounak Dasgupta)
