Wall Street slips as energy stocks drag
Wall Street was slightly lower on Monday as a fall in oil prices weighed on energy stocks and investors paused ahead of the release of a slew of economic data and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting.
Crude prices, which have dictated the direction of the stock market this year, fell about 3 percent after Iran quashed hopes of a quick deal by major producers to freeze output. [O/R]
Steadying oil prices and data pointing to strengthening U.S. economy have helped stocks recover from a steep selloff at the start of the year. The S&P 500 is now down only 1 percent in 2016, after falling as much as 10.5 percent.
“You have a little pullback this morning and I don’t see it as anything more than that, unless something material, i.e. the Fed goes back on their word, come Wednesday,” said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
“Right now, it looks to be like a healthy pullback and a little profit-taking off the strength on Friday,” Bakhos said.
The S&P and the Dow recorded their highest close of 2016 on Friday.
At 9:38 a.m. ET (1338 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 30.88 points, or 0.18 percent, at 17,182.43, the S&P 500 was down 5.46 points, or 0.27 percent, at 2,016.73 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 9.02 points, or 0.19 percent, at 4,739.45.
Eight of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower, led by a 1.08 percent fall in the energy sector.
Shares of Chevron were down 1 percent at $93.64 and weighed the most on the Dow, while Exxon was off 0.6 percent at $81.63 and dragged down the S&P 500.
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Source: Reuters
