Damian Troise and Alex Veiga
Updated ,first published
Stocks slipped to a near mixed result on Wall Street and oil prices fell after the United States and Iran suspended their attacks as work resumed talks to end their war.
The S&P 500 ended unchanged, down 0.1 percent. The index is coming off two weekly losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.2 percent, offset by a 5 percent drop in AI chip giant Nvidia.
Australia’s share market is set to erase some of the previous session’s big gains, with its futures at 5.55am AEST pointing to a fall of 24 points, or 0.3 per cent, at the open. Part of the ASX has increased by 1.4 percent on Monday. The Australian dollar was trading at US69.90¢.
Oil prices were unchanged from a week ago, when a sharp escalation in fighting between the United States and Iran heightened concerns about global oil supplies. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 9.1 percent to $US87.93 a barrel for September delivery. Prices rose to more than $US100 a barrel last week before being cut. West Texas Intermediate was down 8 percent at $US82.14.
The war between the United States and Iran has dramatically reduced, and at times halted, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. This has had a negative impact on the world economy. Gasoline prices have risen and transportation costs for many goods are rising, and businesses typically pass those costs on to households.
Markets rose in Europe after closing mostly in Asia.
Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.65 percent from 4.69 percent Friday evening.
Technology companies were behind many of the changes in the market, and the gains and losses of the merger of large companies led to a certain business.
Nvidia fell 5 percent and Micron Technology fell 2.3 percent. Meanwhile, Microsoft rose 1.9 percent and Apple rose 1.2 percent. Both are among the most valuable companies in the world and those market values give them more influence over the direction of the broader market.
The combination of gains and losses from the various types of companies had the most impact on the market’s push and pull, even as many companies in the S&P 500 experienced success.
In Asia, Chinese memory maker CXMT rose for the first time in Shanghai. The company jumped to become China’s most valuable listed company with an estimated market capitalization of 3.3 trillion yuan (about $490 billion).
Wall Street has a busy week ahead with several updates that could weigh on the economy and corporate earnings. The reports are based on consumer confidence on Tuesday and inflation on Thursday.
“This is a week with more than its fair share of potential surprises, good and bad,” said Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investments, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.
Much attention will be on the Federal Reserve, which will provide an update on Wednesday on its interest rate policy. The central bank has been grappling with the effects of rising inflation due to the ongoing US-Iran war. It also has to deal with a new round of tariffs imposed by the United States around the world, which could exacerbate inflation.
Wall Street expects a near 36 percent chance that the Fed will raise interest rates at its meeting this week. Higher rates can help reduce inflation by making borrowing more expensive and slowing economic growth.
The central bank has been holding rates steady throughout the year as it monitors the direction and impact of inflation, but Wall Street expects at least one rate hike by the end of the year.
High inflation has been squeezing households and fuel costs have hit budgets and spending very hard. Gasoline costs take a big chunk out of household budgets, and that can mean more difficult spending on other things like clothing and transportation.
Investors are watching the latest round of company earnings for signs of consumer distress as well as whether the year-long jump in stock value on Wall Street is justified by earnings and profit growth forecasts.
Investors also have a heavy round of corporate earnings to review this week. Many of those reports can provide further clues into the health of different areas of the economy. Paint and coatings maker Sherwin-Williams, aircraft manufacturer Boeing and payment processor Visa will report their latest results on Tuesday.
Starbucks and Chipotle will report results on Wednesday.
Technology companies are being watched in particular because their big gains throughout the year have been behind Wall Street’s record. Microsoft will report the results on Wednesday. Amazon, with its growing cloud services business and AI-focus, will report results on Thursday, along with Apple.
AP
The Market Recap is a summary of the day’s trading. Let’s find each otherekday afternoon.
