US stocks ended lower on Monday, following swinging up and down throughout followingnoon trading, as investors compared positive earnings from Bank of America to a jump in bond yields ahead of more corporate earnings reports this week.
Traders are waiting for a package of corporate profits that will help them assess the impact of the Ukraine war and a jump in inflation on the financial conditions of companies. Netflix, Tesla, Johnson & Johnson and International Business Machines (IBM) will release their results this week.
Contributing to the trading session turmoil was weak trading volumes following the Good Friday holiday and European markets remaining closed on Monday.
According to preliminary data, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended the trading session on Wall Street, down 0.02 percent to 4,391.69 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 17.67 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 13331.92 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 34.77 points, or 0.10 percent, to 34416.46 points.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose 5 basis points to 2.866%, for the first time since late 2018. The yield on the 30-year Treasury jumped 2 basis points to 2.942%.
Returns are known to move inversely with prices, and one basis point is 0.01%.
In turn, investors continue to assess inflationary pressures on their portfolios and the broader economy. Last week, the US Census Bureau reported that retail sales rose 0.5% in March, slightly less than the 0.6% gain expected by the Dow, and gas stations were the biggest driver of sales.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Producer Price Index for March, which measures the prices paid by wholesalers, rose 11.2% from a year earlier, its biggest gain since 2010.
This reading came a day following the release of the latest consumer price index, which showed price inflation of 8.5% last month compared to the same period a year ago, its largest increase since 1981. But the core CPI for the month rose only 0.3%, compared to 0.5 % according to inflation expectations. (agencies)
