Stocks mixed amid global growth jitters
U.S. stocks capped a day of choppy trading with an uneven finish Monday as investors wrestled to make sense of newly pessimistic outlooks for the global economy.
Traders also weighed another troubling drop in long-term bond yields, which many see as a warning sign of a possible recession.
Large-company stocks ended broadly lower, led by drops in big technology companies. Apple fell 1.2 percent after announcing several new services including streaming video and news. Smallcompany stocks fared better.
The bout of volatile trading left the S&P 500 index slightly lower, extending the benchmark index’s losses from a broad market sell-off last week.
“Today’s moves are very reflective of very different interpretations of the environment and risks ahead,” said Luke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust. “Different investors and different investment shops are interpreting the data very differently.”
The S&P 500 dropped 2.35 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,798.36.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.51 points, or 0.1 percent, to 25,516.83. It was down as much as 130 and up as much as 100 earlier in the day.
The Nasdaq composite lost 5.13 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,637.54. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks picked up 6.94
points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,512.86.
Major European stock indexes finished lower as uncertainty over Brexit continued.
Despite the market’s recent slide, the S&P 500 index is still up more than 11 percent in 2019, an unusually strong start to a year.
Worried investors have shifted money into bonds, sending yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slid to 2.40 percent from 2.45 percent late Friday. At one point, the yield had fallen to 2.38 percent, briefly triggering deeper declines in the stock indexes.
The 10-year Treasury yield remains below the yield on the three-month Treasury bill, a worrying sign that in the past has preceded recessions. That “inversion” occurred on Friday and has spooked investors.
“Really, the things that are driving markets are the uncertainties about global growth and also about how the Fed is going to respond to the inversion of the yield curve,” Mr. Tilley said.
The market’s recent skid follows what has been a strong start to the year on Wall Street as stocks rebounded from a steep slide at the end of 2018. The bull market for U.S. stocks recently marked its 10th anniversary and is now the longest of all time.
Monday’s shaky start came amid a lull in news on the tariffs war between the United States and China. Trade talks are due to resume Thursday in Beijing.
U.S. stock indexes did not appear to have a significant move either way in response to news that the special counsel’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election concluded without finding evidence that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia.
Attorney General William Barr issued a summary of the report Sunday, in which special counsel Robert Mueller did not find evidence that President Donald Trump’s campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia to influence the election. Mr. Mueller also reached no conclusion on whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice.
Losses in technology and financial companies outweighed gains in consumer discretionary and industrial stocks Monday.
Chipmaker Micron Technology dropped 2.6 percent, while Synchrony Financial slid 1.4 percent. Homebuilder Lennar climbed 3.6 percent to lead the consumer discretionary sector, while retailer L Brands picked up 2.6 percent.