Stocks Slip Ahead of Busy Earnings Week--Update
April 12 2021 - 04:54PM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Wallace
U.S. stocks inched lower Monday at the start of a busy week of
corporate earnings and economic data.
Investors said they were positioning for the start of earnings
season, as well as data that will help to gauge whether a coming
burst of inflation will prove transitory.
Among the reports expected this week are those from JPMorgan
Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo -- and companies ranging
from Delta Air Lines to PepsiCo to UnitedHealth Group. Meanwhile,
inflation data due on Tuesday are expected to show consumer prices
picked up in March.
"All of these things need to deliver in quite a Goldilocks
manner for the current gains to remain intact," said Edward Park,
chief investment officer at U.K. investment firm Brooks
Macdonald.
Shares of technology giants have taken back control of the rally
in U.S. stocks over the past month, helping to push major indexes
to a series of records. Some investors say they still see reason to
be cautious, given major economies such as the European Union and
India have been grappling with fresh coronavirus outbreaks.
There is "a bit of a question mark in markets just saying: We're
seeing strong gains; is this quite right?" Mr. Park said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.20 points, or 0.2%, to
33745.40, backing away from Friday's record close. The S&P 500
finished down 0.81 point, or less than 0.1%, to 4127.99 and the
Nasdaq Composite lost 50.19 points, or 0.4%, to 13850.00.
Shares of Nuance Communications jumped $7.27, or 16%, to $52.85
after Microsoft said it agreed to acquire the speech-recognition
firm for $19.7 billion.
Signet Jewelers rose $4.84, or 7.9%, to $65.92 after raising its
guidance for the first quarter and the full year, citing tailwinds
from consumers receiving stimulus checks and tax refunds.
American depository receipts for Alibaba Group Holding rose
$20.70, or 9.3%, to $244.01 after companies founded by billionaire
Jack Ma announced changes to operations and structure to placate
regulators.
Alibaba said Monday it would invest in measures to support
merchants on its platform, two days after China's antitrust
regulator imposed a record fine. Later on Monday,
financial-technology giant Ant Group said it would apply to become
a financial holding company overseen by China's central bank.
Government bonds weakened. The yield on the 10-year U.S.
Treasury note ticked up to 1.674% from 1.664% Friday. Yields, which
move in the opposite direction to bond prices, have fallen back
from their closing high of 1.749% in late March, but are still up
from a low of 0.915% in early January.
U.S. crude oil snapped a two-day losing streak, ending up 38
cents, or 0.6%, to $59.70 a barrel. The Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries is due to release a regular forecast
of global supply and demand of oil Tuesday.
In overseas markets, the Stoxx Europe 600 edged down 0.5%,
pressured by declines in shares of travel & leisure companies.
Stocks pulled back in major Asian markets. China's Shanghai
Composite fell 1.1%, and Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.8%.
Akane Otani contributed to this article.
Write to Joe Wallace at Joe.Wallace@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 12, 2021 16:39 ET (20:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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