Economy
CLOSING BELL: September 10th: DJIA: 13,254.29 | DOWN 52.35 | -0.39%
OIL: $96.26, DOWN 0.16, +0.18%
GOLD: $1,738.60, DOWN 1.90, -0.17%
GASOLINE (US Avg): $3.828, UP .003
Wall Street drops before Fed; tech sector weighs
Wanfeng Zhou, Reuters - Wall Street stocks fell on Monday as investors locked in gains on a recent rally ahead of possible policy action from the Federal Reserve later this week, while weakness in Intel shares weighed on the Nasdaq.
The benchmark S&P 500 index closed at highs last week not seen in nearly five years, motivating some investors to pull back from those gains Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision on Thursday.
“The markets are up a lot, so the short-term risks are on the downside,” said Jim Awad, managing director at Zephyr Management in New York.
Shares of Intel Corp (INTC.O) lost nearly 4 percent after several brokerages cut price targets on the chipmaker. Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O), the world’s largest publicly traded company by market value, dropped more than 2 percent as the market’s weakness was felt most in tech shares.
Investors are on guard against the unknown outcomes of several events this week, including a ruling by Germany’s constitutional court on Wednesday on the legality of the euro zone’s permanent financial rescue fund and the Fed decision on Thursday.
Expectations for more stimulus from central banks in the United States and Europe have underpinned markets in recent weeks.
The Fed looks set to launch a third round of bond purchases this week and economists said Friday’s weak report on jobs growth for August was likely to convince the U.S. central bank a looser monetary policy was needed.
Read the rest of this article at Reuters here.
The Common Good publishes a financial market wrap-up every weekday after markets close, available here.
