U.S. equities finished the first trading session of the week with solid losses, courtesy of a disappointing earnings report and guidance from Dow member Caterpillar and a warning from NVIDIA, as well as increased trade uncertainty with high-level talks with Chinese officials set to kick off later this week. Economic news was light, with only a better-than-expected regional manufacturing report on the docket. Treasury yields and gold were lower, the U.S. dollar was nearly unchanged, while crude oil prices also fell amid uncertainties surrounding the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 209 points (0.8%) to 24,528, the S&P 500 Index lost 21 points (0.8%) to 2,644, and the NASDAQ Composite tumbled 79 points (1.1%) to 7,086. In moderate volume, 821 million shares were traded on the NYSE and 2.4 billion shares changed hands on the NASDAQ. WTI crude oil declined $1.70 to $51.99 per barrel and wholesale gasoline was down $0.05 at $1.35 per gallon. Elsewhere, the Bloomberg gold spot price retreated $1.16 to $1,304.09 per ounce, and the Dollar Index—a comparison of the U.S. dollar to six major world currencies—was unchanged at 95.76.
The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity Index showed growth expanded in January, increasing more-than-expected to 1.0 from December’s unrevised -5.1 level, versus expectations of -2.7, with a reading of zero the demarcation point between expansion and contraction.
Treasuries were higher, as the yields on the 2-year and 10-year notes fell 2 basis points (bps) to 2.58% and 2.73%, respectively, while the 30-year bond rate was flat at 3.07%.
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