WASHINGTON: US equities fluctuated between slight losses and gains on Monday as investors took a breather following last week’s record-setting run. The S&P 500 was trading less than a point lower at 2,438.61 by midday in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 per cent at 21,216.48, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.1 per cent at 6,301.13. Of the 11 main sectors tracked on the S&P 500, eight were in the red, with financials, energy and info tech stocks the only sectors bucking the downward trend. The lacklustre start to the week comes after all three indices set new closing and intraday highs on Friday after an unexpectedly weak May jobs report fuelled speculation that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to step up the pace of interest rate rises beyond the three it has signalled for this year. There were also few catalysts for the bulls to latch onto on Monday. Oil remains under pressure amid continued market scepticism over the effectiveness of the production cut extension announced by Opec and major non-Opec producers to curb the global supply glut.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, was back below $50 a barrel after falling 1.2 per cent to $49.37. West Texas Intermediate, its US counterpart, extended last week’s 4.3 per cent decline another 0.9 per cent to trade at $47.22 a barrel. A fresh batch of US economic data added to the mixed picture of the US economy’s performance. The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing gauge showed that the pace of expansion in the country’s all-important services sector remained solid in May despite slowing down slightly. Meanwhile, a separate report on factory orders showed that new orders for manufactured goods fell for the first time in five months. The dollar was up 0.1 per cent at 96.83, while yield on the 10-year Treasury note came off Friday’s near 7-month low to trade 1.6 basis points higher at 2.175 per cent.
