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Main U.S. indexes fall: Nasdaq off ~0.8%
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Energy weakest S&P 500 sector; staples sole gainer
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Euro STOXX 600 index off ~0.5%
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Dollar rises; gold ~flat; bitcoin down; crude falls >2%
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U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield slides to ~3.41%
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U.S. STOCKS DIP AS COMMODITY-RELATED SECTORS REVERSE (1004 EDT/1404 GMT)
Wall Street is lower in the early stages of trading on
Tuesday, although losses on the Dow are somewhat curbed
by gains in UnitedHealth .
Commodity-related materials and energy are the worst performing among the 11 S&P 500 sectors, as
the two reverse gains seen in the prior session as the dollar
strengthens.
The focus is on corporate earnings with a slew of
heavyweights scheduled to report this week, including Google
parent Alphabet and Microsoft after the
closing bell on Tuesday.
United Parcel shares are tumbling nearly 9% after the delivery company forecast annual revenue at the lower end of its prior forecast and warned of persistent pressure on parcel volumes. That's pulling peer FedEx down more than 2% and sending the Dow Jones Transports about 3% lower.
On the economic front, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index showed single-family home prices rose in February, but the overall trend continues to point to a slowdown in home price inflation. New home sales for March were above expectations.
A gauge of consumer confidence for April came in well short of expectations.
Below is your market snapshot:
(Chuck Mikolajczak)
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S&P 500 INDEX, AKA THE SLOTH (0900 EDT/1300 GMT) April has been one quiet month for the S&P 500 index so far. Indeed, with just four trading days left in the month, the SPX is last up just 0.68% in April. This has it on track for its smallest monthly change since May of last year and the smallest April change since 2018, when the index gained 0.27%. That said, despite last May's miniscule gain of just 0.005%, the fact is that was one wild month overall. The benchmark index's high-to-low range as a percentage of the prior month's close last May was 12.04%. That certainly hasn't been the case this month. So far in April, this measure stands at just 2.43%, or its lowest reading since 2% in June 2017. Meanwhile, the SPX gained just 0.09% on Monday, marking the fourth session out of the past five where the absolute value of its change was less than 0.1%.
With this, historical volatility has contracted. In fact, one measure, Bollinger Band width, on a hourly basis, hit a fresh one-year low late in Monday's session:
Compressed band width does not in itself predict direction, but it can flag a market ripe for much more spirited action, or indeed, its next trend. Prior to last Thursday, the hourly band width low over the past year occurred in the last hour of trading on Wednesday August 24. By the Friday of that week, the SPX was in a tailspin thanks to Fed-Chair Powell's August 26 Jackson Hole speech. Whatever the next catalyst may be, traders remain on guard for the benchmark index to suddenly awaken.
(Terence Gabriel)
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FOR TUESDAY'S LIVE MARKETS POSTS PRIOR TO 0900 EDT/1300 GMT - CLICK HERE
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(Terence Gabriel is a Reuters market analyst. The views
expressed are his own)
