NEW YORK - APRIL 29: Model Christy Turlington (center) and employees of the non-profit organization Every Mother Counts ring the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange on April 29, 2016 in New York City. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down over 100 points. Yana Paskova/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==
NEW YORK: Wall Street was little changed on Monday (at the opening) after data showed that US manufacturing sector’s PMI for April was at its lowest since 2009.
The ISM purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipped to 50.8% in April from 51.5% in March.
Investors have been keeping a sharp eye on data after the US Federal Reserve held monetary policy steady last week, and gave no signals that it was in a hurry to tighten further.
Economists polled by Reuters expect two increases this year but futures prices show traders do not expect rates to rise until late 2016, according to CME Group’s FedWatch.
Wall Street closed lower on Friday, with US stocks marking their largest weekly drop in more than two months as corporate earnings continued to disappoint.
“I suspect for some stability to come in after the selloff in the last couple of days,” said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Louisville, Kentucky-based Janlyn Capital.
“Everyone is looking for doom and gloom, and we may get it at some point, but for the moment, it appears that there is a predisposition to buying.”
Oil prices retreated from the year’s highs as rising production in the Middle East outweighed a decline the United States.
Data released on Sunday showed China’s manufacturing sector expanded marginally in April, missing estimates and raising doubts about the sustainability of a recent pick-up in the country’s economy.
At 9:56am ET (1356 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 27.87 points, or 0.16%, at 17,801.51, the S&P 500 was up 3.36 points, or 0.16%, at 2,068.66 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.04 points, or 0.02%, at 4,774.32.
Seven of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, with the telecom services index’s 0.74% rise leading the advancers.
Baidu fell 5.9% to US$182.74 after Chinese regulators said they would investigate the company over the death of a university student, who had used its search engine to look for treatment for his cancer.
The Commerce Department’s construction spending report is likely to show outlays rebounded 0.5% in March after dropping by the same percentage in February. The data is expected at 10:00am ET.
Baker Hughes shares fell 0.4% to US$48.15 after the company and larger rival Halliburton scrapped a deal to merge. Halliburton shares rose 1.06% to US$41.75.
IBM shares rose 0.3% to US$146.42 after Warren Buffett said he would more likely buy than sell the technology services provider’s shares over the next two years.
Apollo Education was up 9.7% at US$8.54 after a group of investors raised their offer to US$1.14bil to buy the for-profit education provider.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,639 to 672. On the Nasdaq, 1,379 issues rose and 798 fell. - Reuters
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