The fourth quarter got off to a weak start for US stock investors on Monday, with financials, consumer staples and utilities pulling the S&P 500 lower.
Major indexes have bounced between gains and losses in the past few days, with investors nervous about the outcome of a tight race for the White House ahead of the November 8 election.
Big banks extended recent declines as investors were worried about the stability of Deutsche Bank and also Wells Fargo & Co’s handling of sales abuses.
US-listed shares of
“The feeling is there will be a negotiation lowering that penalty but it’s certainly a bit of an overhang on the overall market,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.
The S&P 500 financial index declined 0.43 per cent as Wells Fargo slid 1.02 per cent to its lowest since December 2013.
Also weighing on investor sentiment was a plan announced by Britain on Sunday to start its separation from the European Union by March.
With yields on US Treasury bonds up following stronger-than-expected US manufacturing data for September, the interest-rate sensitive utility sector fell 1.35 percent.
The consumer staples index declined 0.6 per cent, with Procter & Gamble falling 1.21 per cent.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3 per cent to end the session at 18,253.85 points and the S&P 500 lost 0.33 per cent to 2,161.2. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.21 per cent to 5,300.87 points.
About 5.9 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, well below the 7.1 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
S&P 500 companies on average are expected to posts a 0.5 per cent dip in third-quarter earnings, according to Thomson Reuters data. That would mark a fifth straight quarter of year-over-year earnings declines, in large part due to weak oil prices.
Tesla Motors jumped 4.74 per cent after the electric carmaker said third-quarter deliveries rose 70 per cent to 24,500 cars.
Cabela’s surged 15.02 per cent after the retailer said it would be acquired by Bass Pro Shops in a deal valued at about $5.5 billion.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.40-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.40-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 77 new highs and 32 new lows.