US STOCKS – Wall Street closes down as tech stocks fall…..
Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Monday, driven by a drop in AI leader Nvidia that weighed on tech stocks, as investors looked ahead to a crucial inflation report set for later this week. Nvidia NVDA.O fell 2.5% after China’s market regulator launched an investigation into the chipmaker over suspected violation of antimonopoly law, dragging the information technology sector .SPLRCT down 0.45%. Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O slipped 5.7% after B of A Global Research downgraded its rating on the stock, weighing on the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index .SOX , which slipped 0.87%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 240.59 points, or 0.54%, to 44,401.93, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 37.42 points, or 0.61%, to 6,052.85 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 123.08 points, or 0.62%, to 19,736.69. Nine out of 11 S&P 500 sectors lost ground, led by declines in financial stocks. Comcast CMCSA.O slid 9.5% after forecasting a loss of more than 100,000 broadband subscribers in the fourth quarter, denting the communication services sector .SPLRCL by 1.3%. Shares of Hershey HSY.N surged 10.9% following a media report that Cadbury parent Mondelez MDLZ.O was exploring an acquisition of the chocolate maker. Mondelez shares fell 2.3%.
Investors are anticipating the consumer price index (CPI) data set for release on Wednesday, along with the producer price index (PPI) on Thursday, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Dec. 17-18. Bets of a 25-basis-point rate cut at the upcoming meeting shot up to more than 85% after data on Friday showed a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.2% in November, indicating an easing labor market. Several Fed officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, emphasized caution regarding the central bank’s approach to easing monetary policy due to the economy’s resilience.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.24-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 216 new highs and 35 new lows on the NYSE. The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 122 new highs and 60 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.11 billion shares, compared with the 14.46 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; Additional reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru
Editing by Devika Syamnath and Matthew Lewis.
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