Weakness in Big Tech stocks leaves Wall Street mostly lower
Stocks closed mostly lower on Wall Street Monday, dragged down by losses in several Big Tech companies. The S&P 500 gave up 0.8%, its fifth straight decline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain of just under 0.1%. Traders are still keeping a close eye on Washington and the next big round of stimulus that’s making its way through Congress. Concerns that inflation could come back have helped send Treasury yields to their highest level in a year. The yield on the 10-year Treasury nudged up to 1.35% and crude oil prices jumped another 3.8%.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Stocks mostly fell in afternoon trading on Monday, adding to the declines that started last week as investors continue to be concerned about rising interest rates and the potential for inflation down the road.
The S&P 500 was down 0.3% as of 2:57 p.m. Eastern, pulled down by technology and health care companies which have done well over the past year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 135 points, or 0.4%, to 31,629 after edging lower earlier in trading. The technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.6%.
Investors remain focused on the future of global economies badly hit by COVID-19 and the potential for more stimulus to fix them. The U.S. House of Representatives is likely to vote on President Joe Biden’s proposed stimulus package by the end of the week. It would include $1,400 checks to most Americans, additional payments for children, and billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments as well as additional aid to businesses impacted by the pandemic.
But the large amount of stimulus being pumped into the economy has given some investors pause as worries of inflation have reentered the market after being nonexistent for more than a decade. Yields on U.S. Treasury bonds and notes have risen in the last several weeks as investors have predicted more inflation would come with the economic recovery.
“There are some risks out there,” said Gary Schlossberg, global strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “The issue is are we just normalizing back to where we were before the pandemic or are we talking about a sea change.”