Stock market today: U.S. markets slightly lower again Tuesday as economy flashes mixed signals

BEIJING –

Wall Street crept modestly decrease for a second straight day Tuesday, following a weekslong rally that carried markets to an 10-month excessive.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had been off lower than 0.1% in premarket buying and selling.

With earnings season winding down and few main financial studies scheduled this week, merchants have little new information to work with when assessing the state of the financial system, which has been flashing contradictory indicators for greater than a yr.

Traders are frightened fee hikes by the Federal Reserve and central banks in Europe and Asia to chill inflation that was at multidecade highs will push the worldwide financial system right into a recession. They hope indicators of slowing U.S. exercise will immediate the Fed to postpone or cut back one other potential fee enhance at its assembly this month.

The U.S. authorities is because of launch an replace on inflation subsequent week forward of the Fed assembly.

Even if the Fed places off a fee hike this month, Wall Street is betting on one other enhance in July after officers study extra information.

High rates of interest led to a few high-profile U.S. financial institution failures and one in Switzerland that rattled monetary markets. Manufacturing additionally has been weakening.

Last week’s information confirmed that U.S. employers unexpectedly accelerated hiring in May, whereas will increase in employees’ wages diminished. That helped propel Wall Street to the brink of a “bull market,” or a rise of 20% within the S&P 500 over its mid-October low.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index misplaced 0.2% on Monday after an trade group’s May index of exercise in building, hospitality and different companies fell to a three-year low. That conflicted with hopes raised by information final week that confirmed unexpectedly robust hiring, suggesting a possible U.S. recession introduced on by rate of interest hikes may be farther away.

The Dow fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1% after the Institute for Supply Management reported its service trade index declined to 50.3 from April’s 51.9 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 present exercise rising.

“Weakness is emerging and that should be more noticeable in the coming months,” Edward Moya of Oanda stated in a report.

In European buying and selling, the FTSE 100 in London and the CAC 40 in Paris every fell round 0.2%. The DAX in Frankfurt was flat.

Wheat costs jumped 3% after a dam collapsed in southern Ukraine, triggering floods and endangering Europe’s largest nuclear energy plant. Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric energy station on the Dnieper River, whereas Russian officers blamed Ukrainian army strikes within the contested space.

It’s unclear whether or not the surge in wheat costs was resulting from an actual risk of dam floodwaters destroying crops. Commodity costs surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine greater than a yr in the past.

Ukraine and Russia are key world suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and different meals to Africa, the Middle East and components of Asia the place tens of millions of impoverished folks lack sufficient to eat.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.2% to three,195.34 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.2% to 19,072.42.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.9% to 32,506.78 after authorities information confirmed Japanese wages rose 1% over a yr earlier in April however progress slowed from the earlier month’s 1.3%.

The S&P ASX 200 in Sydney shed 1.2% to 7,129.60 after Australia’s central financial institution lifted its benchmark rate of interest by 0.25 proportion factors to 4.1% and warned additional rises may observe. That got here after inflation was stronger than anticipated at 6.8% within the January-March quarter.

India’s Sensex misplaced 0.2% to 62,653.68. New Zealand and Jakarta superior whereas Singapore and Bangkok declined. South Korean markets had been closed for a vacation.

In vitality markets, benchmark U.S. crude misplaced US$1.49 to $70.66 per barrel in digital buying and selling on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 41 cents to $72.15 on Monday. Brent crude, the worth foundation for worldwide oil buying and selling, sank $1.42 to $75.29 per barrel in London. It superior 58 cents the earlier session to $76.71.

The greenback was nearly unchanged at 139.62 yen from Monday’s 139.63 yen. The euro slipped to $1.0682 from $1.0715.