After turning in a strong performance last week, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. The major averages all moved to the downside, although selling pressure was somewhat subdued.
The major averages ended the day well off their worst levels but still in negative territory. The Dow fell 249.04 points or 0.5 percent to 48,461.93. the Nasdaq slid 118.75 points or 0.5 percent to 23,474.35 and the S&P 500 declined 24.20 points or 0.4 percent to 6,905.74.
The pullback on Wall Street may have reflected profit taking, as some traders looked to cash in on recent gains going into the end of the year.
Partly reflecting renewed strength among tech stocks, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended last Wednesday’s trading at record closing highs before edging slightly lower last Friday.
The major averages all posted strong gains for the Christmas-interrupted week. While the S&P 500 shot up by 1.4 percent, the Dow and the Nasdaq both jumped by 1.2 percent.
A pullback by big-name tech companies is also weighing on the markets, with Nvidia (NVDA) and Oracle (ORCL) showing notable moves to the downside.
Overall trading activity appeared somewhat subdued, however, as some traders remained away from their desks ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday on Thursday.
On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the National Association of Realtors showed pending home sales in the U.S. shot up by much more than expected in the month of November.
NAR said its pending home sales index spiked by 3.3 percent to 79.2 in November after surging by 2.4 percent to an upwardly revised 76.7 in October.
Economists had expected pending home sales to climb by 0.8 percent compared to the 1.9 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Gold stocks saw substantial weakness amid a sharp pullback by the price of the precious metal, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index plunging by 5.7 percent after ending last Friday’s trading at a record closing high.
Significant weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
Computer hardware, steel and banking stocks also saw notable weakness, while oil producer stocks moved to the upside amid a spike by the price of crude oil.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.4 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index crept slightly higher and South Korea’s Kospi surged by 2.2 percent.
The major European markets also ended the day narrowly mixed. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved to the upside after ending last Friday’s trading roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell 2.0 basis points to 4.116 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading on Tuesday may be impacted by reaction to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting, which may shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates.
Business News
Profit Taking Contributes To Pullback On Wall Street
2025-12-29 21:09:43
