Wall Street
wavered, oil slipped, and the dollar weakened further against the euro
in thin trading on Monday, as major European markets were shut for
Easter.
U.S. stocks were
little changed, just below three-year highs, after strong first-quarter
earnings. Seventy-five per cent of SP 500 companies that have
reported beat analysts’ expectations, just above the average of the
past four quarters.
Although oil prices
turned lower in choppy trade, crude’s recent powerful surge is
offsetting positive momentum from earnings, and as the day progresses
stocks could fall, said Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed trading at
KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland.
“I could see some profit-taking after the advance we’ve had,” Mr Kruszenski said.
A more tempered view of economic growth was taking hold across many markets.
“(There’s a)
fundamental bias that the data is indeed slowing and higher gas prices
will take their toll on the consumer,” said David Ader, senior
government bond strategist at CRT Capital Group in Stamford,
Connecticut.
The Dow Jones
industrial average was down 23.61 points, or 0.19 per cent, at
12,482.38. The Standard Poor’s 500 Index was down 1.70 points, or
0.13 per cent, at 1,335.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 2.04
points, or 0.07 per cent, at 2,822.20.
U.S. government
debt prices rose as traders banked on the idea that even as the Federal
Reserve’s second bond-buying programme nears the end, the Fed will hold
on to its portfolio and its current level of monetary accommodation for
some time.
The benchmark
10-year U.S. Treasury note was up 2/32 in price to yield 3.39 per cent.
With European markets closed and no major U.S. economic reports on the
calendar, the two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee that
ends Wednesday will be the key event traders focus on to gauge the
direction of monetary policy.
Traders and
investors keenly await a planned news conference by Fed chairman, Ben
Bernanke, after the FOMC meeting ends to see how the Fed plans to end
its easy monetary policy. The conference is the first regularly
scheduled briefing by a Fed chief in the U.S. Central Bank’s 97-year
history.
“The bond and
currency market reaction is still an unknown and a significant risk,”
said Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotia Capital in
Toronto.
The euro was up 0.14 per cent at $1.4576, but the dollar was up 0.1 per cent against a basket of major currencies at 74.070.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was up 0.31 per cent at 82.08 yen.
U.S. light sweet crude oil fell 66 cents to $111.63 a barrel. Spot gold prices fell $2.13 to $1,505.50 ounce.
