US stocks dip as oil prices hit multi-month peaks
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, in New York City.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks began a holiday-shortened week on a lackluster note Tuesday, retreating as oil prices pushed higher and Treasury bond yields climbed.
Crude prices closed at nine-month peaks following announcements by Saudi Arabia and Russia to restrain output.
That enabled petroleum-linked equities to advance while most other industrial sectors declined. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed, reflecting expectations for higher interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.6 per cent lower at 34,641.97.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.4 per cent to 4,496.83, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 0.1 per cent to 14,020.95.
The rise in Treasury yields came despite comments from Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller suggesting the US central bank would keep interest rates steady later this month.
“There’s nothing that is saying we need to do anything imminent any time soon, so we can just sit there, wait for the data, see if things continue,” Waller told CNBC.
Among individual companies, Warner Brothers Discovery advanced 0.7 per cent as it projected lower operating earnings due to the impact of the writer and actors’ strikes.
However, the entertainment giant lifted its free cash flow due in part to the strong performance of the Barbie movie “as well as incremental impact from strike-related factors,” it said in a press release.
Stock markets were closed on Monday in observance of the Labour Day holiday.
This week’s calendar includes services sector industrial data and the Fed’s beige book describing economic conditions around the United States. AFP
