A video board displays the closing numbers after the closing bell of the Dow Industrial Average at the New York Stock Exchange on July 5, 2017 in New York. / AFP PHOTO / Bryan R. Smith
NEW YORK: US stock indexes were little changed on Tuesday as investors waited for more hints on interest rate hikes from Federal Reserve policymakers and the start of second-quarter earnings.
Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen starts two days of testimony on Wednesday as it prepares to unwind the massive hoard of bonds it bought to ease the financial crisis.
“We’ve got Yellen’s testimony tomorrow, there may be a little bit of nervousness ahead of that ... the semi-annual monetary policy testimony has often been a big deal for the markets,” Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St Petersburg, Florida.
“I think there may be some fears that she’s going to come out relatively hawkish.”
The Federal Reserve Board governor Lael Brainard will speak on monetary policy on Tuesday before a conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis president Neel Kashkari will participate in a Town Hall question-and-answer session moderated by Bremer Bank CEO Jeanne Crain in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Oil prices fell as BNP Paribas cut its forecasts for Brent by US$9 to US$51 a barrel for 2017 and by US$15 to US$48 for 2018.
Barclays also cut its 2017 and 2018 Brent forecasts to US$52 a barrel.
Crude prices are about 18% below their 2017 opening levels despite a deal led by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production from January.
The dollar hit a four-month high against the yen and bonds and top emerging market currencies were back under pressure, on bets for higher interest rates in a small but growing group of major economies.
Investors will be looking at second-quarter earnings reports on Friday from big US banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup.
“My sense is you get a little bit of back and forth, no real clear sense of direction over the next several days,” said Brown.
Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, dragged down by losses in financials and technology sectors.
At 10:04am EDT the Dow Jones industrial average was down 5 points, or 0.02%, at 21,403.52, the S&P 500 was down 2.84 points, or 0.12%, at 2,424.59 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 3.47 points, or 0.06%, at 6,179.87.
Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc soar about 37 percent after the drug developer said on Monday its experimental drug for a rare but deadly lung disease met the main goal in a mid-stage study.
Halcon Resources Corp’s shares were up 40% after the oil producer said on Tuesday it would sell assets it operates in the Williston Basin to Bruin E&P Partners for US$1.4bil in cash.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,497 to 1,073, for a 1.40-to-1 ratio on the downside. On the Nasdaq, 1,252 issues fell and 1,206 advanced for a 1.04-to-1 ratio favoring decliners. - Reuters
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