Stocks fall on Wall Street, led by slump in tech companies

Washington DC: Stocks fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street Monday as the market extends a losing streak from last week.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2 percent as of 12:01 pm Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 189 points, or 0.6 percent, to 34,530 and the Nasdaq fell 1.8 percent.

Both the benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are coming off their first weekly loss in four weeks.

Technology stocks fell broadly and were the biggest weights on the market. Microsoft fell 3.7 percent and Apple shed 2 percent.

Energy stocks were among some of the biggest losers as they followed oil prices lower. US crude oil prices fell 3.7 percent and Exxon Mobil slumped 3.1 percent.

Oil prices remain volatile amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has put more pressure on global energy supplies. Global oil prices are up just over 25 percent for the year, though they have been easing somewhat throughout April.

Industrial companies and banks held up better than the rest of the market. Boeing rose 1.1 percent and Citigroup rose 0.8 percent.

Bond yields gained ground. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.77 percent from 2.71 percent late Friday.

Twitter was in focus after mercurial Tesla billionaire Elon Musk said he wouldn’t be joining the company’s board after all. The stock rose 0.4 percent. Musk recently became the company’s biggest shareholder and is now free to increase his stake.

Shares of the new Warner Bros. Discovery media giant fell 1.8 percent on their first day of trading. The company is the USD 43 billion combination of Discovery and the AT&T spinoff WarnerMedia that includes storied film studio Warner Bros., CNN, HBO, HGTV, and Discovery. AT&T jumped 7.7 percent.

Investors continue to remain uneasy about higher interest rates, Russia’s war on Ukraine, and China’s effort to contain coronavirus outbreaks. In China, automakers and other manufacturers are reducing production after authorities tightened restrictions to help stem coronavirus outbreaks in Shanghai and other cities.

Wall Street will get several updates this week that could provide more clues about how the broader economy has been handling rising inflation.

The Labor Department on Tuesday will release its report on consumer prices for March, while the Commerce Department will release its March retail sales report on Thursday. Those reports have been closely watched as investors try to figure out how rising prices have been impacting consumer spending. Any significant slowdown in consumer spending would likely mean a sharper-than-expected slowdown in economic growth this year.

The latest economic updates come as investors anticipate a more aggressive shift from the Federal Reserve as it tries to temper the impact from rising inflation. The central bank has already announced a quarter-percentage point raise in its key interest rate.

Fed officials indicated in minutes from last month’s meeting they were considering raising the US benchmark rate by double the normal amount at upcoming meetings. They also indicated they would shrink the Fed’s bond holdings, which would push up long-term borrowing rates.

Wall Street will also start to get more details about how individual companies performed during the first quarter and what they expect moving ahead. Delta Air Lines and JPMorgan Chase will report their latest financial results on Wednesday, while UnitedHealth Group, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup will report their results on Thursday.