U.S. and Canadian stocks were essentially unchanged at the close of a choppy session on Monday, with a solar eclipse offering distraction ahead of crucial U.S. inflation data and the kick-off of first-quarter earnings season.
The S&P 500, Dow and S&P/TSX Composite Index posted minimal losses while the Nasdaq ended nominally higher. They were held in check by the highest benchmark U.S. Treasury yields since November in the wake of Friday’s blowout American employment report.
That report heightened chances that the Federal Reserve could delay implementing its first interest rate cut at its monthly Federal Open Market Committee meetings longer than previously expected.
“Wall Street is adjusting expectations to reflect the fact that the Fed could be slower to lower interest rates and that now the greatest likelihood is for a rate cut to occur at the July FOMC meeting, rather than June,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist of CFRA Research in New York.
On Wednesday, the Labor Department’s March U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report is expected to show a slight cooldown in monthly price growth and a nominal decrease in the annual core number, which excludes volatile food and energy items.
Year-on-year headline CPI is expected to gain some heat, rising to 3.4% from 3.2% in February, underscoring inflation’s meandering journey back to the Fed’s 2% annual target.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said on Monday the central bank must take into consideration how long it can maintain its restrictive policy without damaging the economy.
The first-quarter reporting season officially kicks off on Friday with numbers from major U.S. banks JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co.
Analysts expect aggregated S&P 500 earnings growth of 5.0% year-on-year, down from the 7.2% annual estimate at the beginning of the quarter, according to LSEG.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 11.24 points, or 0.03%, to 38,892.80. The S&P 500 lost 1.95 points, or 0.04%, at 5,202.39 and the Nasdaq Composite added 5.44 points, or 0.03%, at 16,253.96.
Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, six closed lower, with energy shares suffering the largest percentage loss.
Real estate notched the biggest advance. Tesla provided a boost, rising 4.9% after CEO Elon Musk said the company would unveil its self-driving Robotaxi on Aug. 8.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks also outperformed, tracking rising bitcoin prices. Exchange operator Coinbase Global, and software firm MicroStrategy rose 6.7% and 5.1%, respectively.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 4.08 points at 22,260.30.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.57-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.30-to-1 ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted 22 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 79 new highs and 84 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.50 billion shares, compared with the 11.53 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Reuters, Globe staff
Be smart with your money. Get the latest investing insights delivered right to your inbox three times a week, with the Globe Investor newsletter. Sign up today.