U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as Wall Street continued its sluggish start to the week, investors continued to monitor China’s COVID policy and awaited a scheduled speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was virtually flat for the day.
The decline came after all three stock indexes ended lower on Monday as protests against China’s tough COVID policies weighed on global markets. The S&P 500 fell more than 1% on Monday after Thanksgiving for the first time since 2008, according to Bespoke Investment Group. The US dollar weakened against a basket of peers after days of gains as the yuan weakened.
A barrel of global benchmark Brent oil rose by 2.6% and exceeded $86 in oil markets on Tuesday. WTI crude oil rose nearly 2% on Tuesday to close just below $79 a barrel after hitting year-lows earlier on Monday.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.755% from 3.701% on Monday.
Selling accelerated on Monday after statements from two Federal Reserve officials emphasized that the central bank’s interest rate hike campaign will continue. On Monday, New York Fed President John Williams said there was still “more work to be done” to lower inflation.
“Stronger demand for labor, stronger demand in the economy than I previously thought, and then slightly higher core inflation suggests a modest higher path for policy than in September,” Williams told reporters after an event hosted by the Economic Club of New York on Monday.
At another event, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said “we have a ways to go to be restrictive.” Bullard also noted that the Fed’s target policy rates would need to rise to at least a 5.00% to 5.25% range from the current 3.75% to 4.00% to be “restrictive enough” to curb inflation.
All eyes now turn to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Brookings Institution on Wednesday, his last before the Fed’s next rate-setting meeting in mid-December. However, “It’s unclear what else Powell can say that we haven’t heard from recent Fed speakers,” said Andrew Tyler, head of US Market Intelligence at JP Morgan. “While a Fed pivot is off the table for now, investors looking for a break won’t find support from Powell this week.”
Meanwhile, investors are also bracing for a week full of economic data. Data from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index showed on Tuesday that US home prices fell 1% in September from August, marking the third consecutive monthly decline. The slowdown comes as mortgage rates have moved from 3% to close to 7% in just 10 months.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, the latest gauge of the strength of the US economy, fell to 100.2 in November from a revised 102.2 in October, while economists polled by Bloomberg had called for a drop to 100.
In corporate news, Apple ( AAPL ) fell more than 2% on Tuesday following the turmoil at the world’s largest iPhone factory in Zhengzhou. Unrest in China has fueled fears of a shortage of nearly 6 million iPhone Pro units this year, Bloomberg reports.
Apple has also found itself on the wrong end of Elon Musk’s wrath as Twitter’s billionaire owner battles the tech giant. Musk has targeted the company for its ad spending on Twitter, raising the prospect of a larger battle over Twitter’s presence in Apple’s App Store.
In the US, Apple will also face headwinds next year, Oppenheimer analyst Martin Yang told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday.
Also in single-stock news, shares of United Parcel Service ( UPS ) rose 2.8% as the Biden administration urges Congress to act and pass legislation to prevent a rail strike. UPS is the largest rail customer.
Shares of AMC Networks ( AMCX ) fell more than 5% on Tuesday after CEO Christina Spade left the company after less than three months in the job and announced that the company will cut 20% of its workforce.
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Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @daniromerotv
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