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Major U.S. stock indexes lower in late morning trading
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Oil prices ease after Monday's rally
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Dollar index declines
(Updates with early U.S. markets activity, changes dateline,
previous LONDON)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters) - World stock indexes
declined on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 down and Treasury yields
easing after data suggesting a cooling in the U.S. labor market.
The U.S. Labor Department report showed U.S. job openings in
February dropped to the lowest level in nearly two years.
In addition, a separate report showed new orders for
U.S.-manufactured goods fell for a second straight month in
February amid ebbing demand for civilian aircraft.
The S&P 500 was pressured the most by the economically
sensitive industrial sector , which was last down 2%.
Materials were also lower.
The yield on two-year Treasuries, which typically
moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 12.2 basis
points to 3.858%, while the benchmark 10-year note's yield slid 4.5 basis points to 3.387%.
Crude oil prices also eased after Monday's sharp rally tied
to Sunday's announcement of an output target cut by the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its
partners.
U.S. crude recently fell 0.27% to $80.20 per barrel
and Brent was at $84.56, down 0.44% on the day.
The spike in oil prices has added to concerns about higher
costs for businesses and consumers, but some investors think
U.S. data signaling some cooling in the economy could possibly
allow the Federal Reserve to loosen monetary policy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 173.34 points,
or 0.52%, to 33,427.81; the S&P 500 lost 16.95 points, or
0.41%, to 4,107.56; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped
42.95 points, or 0.35%, to 12,146.50.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.02% and
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed
0.11%.
Shares of Glencore , whose bid for Teck Resources was rebuffed by the Canadian copper miner the day
before, rose.
The Fed and other central banks have been raising interest
rates to bring down inflation, and investors have been trying to
gauge how much longer the tightening cycle will continue.
"Cooling down of the labor market is one of the things
necessary to combat inflation," said Andrzej Skiba, head of the
BlueBay U.S. fixed income team at RBC Global Asset Management in
New York.
The U.S. dollar index was last down 0.5%, while the
euro was up 0.6% at $1.0963.
The Australian dollar came under pressure after the
Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged after 10
straight increases. It was last down 0.7% against the U.S.
dollar at $0.6737.
Spot gold added 1.9% to $2,021.19 an ounce.
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World FX rates YTD Global asset performance ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Herbert
Lash in New York; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Jason Neely,
Christina Fincher and Jonathan Oatis)
