US stocks sink as investors prepare for earnings season to kick off
- US stocks were lower to start the week after ending last week with a modest gain.
- Investors are bracing for earnings season, with several corporate giants on tap to report this week.
US stocks fell on Monday after notching a modest gain last week, with investors preparing to parse through a wave of corporate earnings.
Companies including PepsiCo and Delta Air Lines will report results from the second quarter on Tuesday and Wednesday, with banks including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo set to deliver results at the end of the week.
Investors are also waiting on key inflation data this week. The Consumer Price Index for June will be reported on Wednesday, and will be anxiously awaited by markets to see if inflation is cooling or if prices have notched another multi-decade high.
Stock moves last week were choppy, with Friday bringing a mixed bag of economic news as the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the US added 372,000 jobs in June, well ahead of estimates. However, the strong data indicated that the Federal Reserve would be unlikely to waver in its committement to raising rates to tame a inflation, and minutes from the June meeting released last Wednesday showed that investors should expect another large rate hike this month.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Monday:
- S&P 500: 3,877.27, down 0.57%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 31,273.96, down 0.20% (64.19 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 11,456.76, down 1.53%
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The dollar and the euro are the closest they've been to parity in 20 years. The dollar was less than one cent shy of reaching equal value to the eurozone currency on Monday morning.
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Oil prices were down as much as 3% Monday morning as fears of a recession in Europe mounted. WTI retraced some earlier losses to trade at $103 a barrel. Brent, oil's international benchmark, was about 1.5% lower to trade at $105.36.
Gold prices were slightly lower, trading at $1,735.50. The 10-year Treasury yield fell 8 basis points to 3.019%.
Bitcoin dropped 1.5% to $20,505.