The S&P 500 and Nasdaq extended last week’s selling today after weaker-than-expected new home sales data and ongoing concerns about emerging markets, while the Dow gained with shares of Caterpillar on strong earnings.
The technology sector led losses but both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pared earlier losses.
The day’s mixed moves follow a steep selloff late last week mainly tied to concerns about emerging market growth.
«There’s still a lot of nervous money hanging around,» said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.
«We still see stress in the emerging markets. We see questions about China’s growth. The Fed is meeting this week and the consensus is they’re going to proceed with the taper.»
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 27.45 points or 0.17 percent, to 15,906.56, the S&P 500 lost 1.17 points or 0.07 percent, to 1,789.12 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 23.424 points or 0.57 percent, to 4,104.749.
European shares fell to their lowest level in more than a month, led by drops in major telecoms and energy stocks.
The downward move extended last week’s decline, which was triggered by concerns about emerging markets and the pace of growth in China. Weak corporate earnings in Europe have also helped to knock European stock markets off multi-year highs.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed down by 0.8 percent at 1,290.62 points, its lowest level in more than a month. The euro zone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index fell 0.5 percent to 3,014.62 points.
buenosairesherald.com