WASHINGTON: US stocks dipped on Tuesday while Treasury prices rose, as investors mulled mixed economic data and await the monthly jobs report due later this week. The first day of the holiday-shortened trading week began with the release of muddy data on the US economy. A key inflation gauge remained subdued in April even as consumer spending perked up. Meanwhile, consumer confidence deteriorated.
Wall Street’s reaction was most noticeable in the fixed-income market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note declined 0.0384 percentage point to 2.208 per cent. Yields move in the opposite direction of prices. In equities, the S&P 500 dipped 0.12 per cent to 2,412.9, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 0.24 per cent to 21,029.2. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.05 per cent to 6,207. Bank shares came under pressure as an important measure of the steepness of the yield curve flattened to the lowest level since September. The KBW banks index slid 1 per cent. Energy shares were also down, tracking a mild decline in the price of oil. Investors are expected to remain focused on the economy, with several key reports due out in coming days, including the monthly jobs data due from the labour department on Friday.
