Wall St notches second lower finish as 2024 starts with profit-taking
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[January 04, 2024] By
David French
(Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes ended the second session of the year down
again in extended profit-taking on Wednesday after a strong finish to
2023, with minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting failing
to shake off the funk hanging over markets.
It was the first time the benchmark S&P 500 index has started the year
with two straight declines since it kicked off 2015 with a three-session
skid. It is also its worst two-day result, on a percentage basis, since
late-October.
The decline contrasts with the blistering run for all three major Wall
Street benchmarks in the final two months of the year. The S&P 500 came
within striking distance of its all-time closing high last week as signs
of cooling inflation spurred investors to bet on an aggressive
rate-cutting schedule.
However, investors have been cautious so far in 2024, wary of the U.S.
central bank's expected pivot to rate cuts this year and how quickly
these might be implemented. While the Fed is widely expected to keep
rates on hold in January, traders have priced in a 67% chance of a 25
basis point rate cut in March, as per CMEGroup's FedWatch tool.
The Fed minutes released on Wednesday offered new insight, with
policymakers appearing increasingly convinced that inflation was coming
under control, with "upside risks" diminished and growing concern about
the damage that "overly restrictive" monetary policy might do to the
economy.
Little light was shed on when rate cuts might commence though.
"The market wanted to hear when and how much the Fed was going to drop
rates, and they didn't get that - even if it's not the Fed's job to do
that," said Jason Betz, private wealth advisor at Ameriprise Financial.
"What we're seeing play out in today's selling maybe is a little bit of
frustration with the perceived lack of transparency of the Fed."
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People walk around the New York Stock Exchange in New York, U.S.,
December 29, 2023. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo
Betz noted that profit-taking from 2023's gains and recalibrations
for the new year were likely also factors influencing traders'
thinking.
Shares of rate-sensitive megacap stocks fell, with Nvidia , Apple
and Tesla ending down between 0.7% and 4%.
The S&P 500 lost 38.02 points, or 0.8%, to end at 4,704.81 points,
while the Nasdaq Composite lost 173.73 points, or 1.18%, to
14,592.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 284.85 points, or
0.76%, to 37,430.19.
Airline stocks came under pressure as a jump in oil prices,
following disruption at Libya's top oilfield, raised concerns about
fuel costs. The S&P 1500 passenger airlines index tumbled 4%. [O/R]
Higher crude prices supported the energy index, which advanced 1.5%,
the leading gainer among the minority of S&P sectors in positive
territory.
Financials was among the sectors that traded lower, off 0.8%, with
Charles Schwab and Blackstone among those pulling down the index.
They dropped 3% and 4.6%, respectively, after Goldman Sachs
downgraded the stocks to "neutral" from "buy."
However, Citigroup gained for a second straight day, rising 1.1% to
its highest finish since mid-August 2022, as the bank continued to
benefit from a price target upgrade and an upbeat analyst report
from Wells Fargo released the previous day.
The volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.84 billion shares, compared with
the 12.35 billion average over the last 20 trading days.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru and
David French in New York; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Richard
Chang)
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