(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange opened on a cautious note on Monday, ahead of the publication this week of US inflation data and interventions by members of the Fed’s board of governors on Friday, while the decline in dollar drove gold prices to a six-month high.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index lost 63.28 points, or -0.18% to 35,326.87 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 0.23% to 4,548.87 points. Nasdaq Composite for its part lost 0.18% or -26.28 points, to 14,224.571.
Falling bond yields have driven global stocks higher in recent weeks as slowing inflation in developed economies bolsters investors’ expectations that central banks are done raising interest rates.
“The US Federal Reserve minutes were released (last week) and revealed what everyone already knew, which is that, at least for the moment, central banks have finished or are on pause… ) and, as a result, stocks and bonds have both rallied,” said Duncan MacInnes of investment firm Ruffer.
“We were forced to increase interest rates by around 500 basis points (…) Do we really think that this will not have consequences? That’s what the market seems to be saying,” he said. he added.
A slew of Fed officials are scheduled to speak this week and investors are also awaiting the release of the “Beige Book,” the Fed’s compendium of reports on the economy and the PCE Consumer Price Index for October .
Retailers will also be closely watched after “Black Friday” and the start of “Cyber Monday”, where shoppers are expected to spend an expected record high of $12 billion (€11 billion).
In terms of values, Amazon.com and Walmart took 1.2% and 0.49% respectively.
Crown Castle International is up 4.5% as its largest shareholder, Elliott Investment Management, plans to hold talks with the owner of the wireless transmission tower group about ways to boost its share price, people told Reuters. Reuters two sources familiar with the matter.
(Writing by Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)
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