U.S. inflation woes are keeping markets in red
U.S. stocks slipped Monday, tacking more losses onto last week’s stumble, as worries about inflation continue to dog Wall Street.
The S&P 500 dipped 10.56, or 0.3%, to 4,163.29, with tech stocks and other former market darlings once again taking the brunt of the losses. The benchmark index is coming off a 1.4% weekly drop from its record high, which would have been even worse if not for a late rebound.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 54.34, or 0.2%, to 34,327.79, while the Nasdaq composite lost 50.93, or 0.4%, to 13,379.05.
Most stocks in the S&P
500 fell, but pockets of strength dotted around the market helped limit the damage. Energy stocks jumped as the price of crude oil rose, while producers of metals and other raw materials also climbed. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks inched up 2.49, or 0.1%, to 2,227.12.
They’re the latest backand-forth eddies for a market swept up in worries about whether rising inflation will prove to be only temporary or longer lasting, as well as enthusiasm about a recovering economy. Prices are rising for everything from auto insurance to restaurant meals as the economy leaps out of last year’s pandemicinduced coma.
If inflation does end up being more than a blip, the fear is that the Federal Reserve will have to dial back the extensive support it’s providing to markets. That includes record-low interest rates and the monthly purchase of $120 billion in bonds meant to goose the job market and economy.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury has shot higher this year amid the inflation fears. It was at 1.65% late Monday, up from 1.63% at the end of last week. It began the year close to 0.90%.
Steelmakers made some of the market’s strongest gains on Monday following the suspension of key measures in a tariff dispute between the U.S. and European Union. Nucor rose 3.7%, and U.S. Steel rose 3.4%.
AT&T slipped 2.7%, and Class A shares of Discovery dropped 5% after the companies announced a $43 billion deal that will combine several major media and streaming entertainment businesses. The new company folds in AT&T’s CNN and HBO channels with Discovery’s Food Network and HGTV.