US markets settle lower on Monday

12 Oct 2021 Evaluate

The US markets settled lower on Monday as investors grew more nervous ahead of the third-quarter earnings reporting season. Supply chain problems and higher costs for energy have fueled concern about earnings, set to kick off with JPMorgan Chase & Co results on Wednesday. Further, lingering concerns about the Federal Reserve scaling back its asset purchases weighed on Wall Street, as last Friday's disappointing job report is not seen as likely to dissuade the central bank from tapering. Worries about the outlook for inflation also generated selling pressure amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil. Crude for November delivery jumped $1.17 to $80.52 a barrel after reaching its highest intraday level since late 2014.

Trading activity was somewhat subdued as some traders remained away from their desks for Columbus Day, also known as Indigenous Peoples' Day. While the stock markets were open on the day, banks, government offices and the bond markets were closed for the holiday. Besides, brokerage stocks showed a notable move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index down by 1.2 percent. Weakness was also visible among interest-rate sensitive utilities stocks, as reflected by the 1.1 percent drop by the Dow Jones Utility Average.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 250.19 points or 0.72 percent to 34,496.06, Nasdaq fell 93.34 points or 0.64 percent to 14,486.20 and S&P 500 was down by 30.15 points or 0.69 percent to 4,361.19.

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