Wall Street closes lower, weighed down by mixed data and weak oil
Major equity indexes in the U.S. recorded losses on Tuesday as the falling crude oil prices dragged the energy stocks lower and the mixed batch of macro data from the U.S. hurt the market sentiment.
The barrel of West Texas Intermediate lost more than 1% before settling at $49.50, lower 0.5% on the day as the latest effort by OPEC to balance the market and battle the supply glut is seen insufficient. Oil giants Exxon and Chevron lost nearly 0.5%, pushing the S&P 500 energy sector 1% lower in the day.
The most important data of the day from the U.S. revealed that the core PCE price index, the Fed's favorite inflation gauge, eased to 1.5% on a yearly basis through April from 1.6% in March, damaging the expectations of two more rate hikes in 2017.
Commenting on today's data, Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist for Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, "we're in a period of time where the first-quarter data was slightly weak and people are wondering if the data was an anomaly or is there something more there," told Reuters.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 50.81 points, or 0.24%, to 21,029.47, the S&P 500 fell 3.25 points, or 0.13%, to 2,412.93 and the Nasdaq Composite closed 7.01 points lower, or 0.11%, at 6,203.19.
Headlines from the U.S. session:
- US Dollar consolidates near daily lows above 97
- US NFP: We expect a 185K reading - Wells Fargo
- Fed's Brainard: Another U.S. rate hike likely appropriate soon
- Fed is likely to keep policy on hold through the second half of 2017 - Rabobank
- Atlanta Fed: GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth in Q2 improved to 3.8%
- US: Data suggests greater momentum behind consumer spending - Wells Fargo
- Dallas Fed: Manufacturing expansion picks up pace
- CME Group FedWatch June hike probably virtually unchanged post-US data
- US: Personal income increased $58.4 billion (0.4%) in April