Wall Street’s major indices fell Monday as US Treasury yields continued to rise on expectations of monetary policy tightening, while Bank of America ended Wall Street banking results with better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.74 points, or 0.12 percent, to 34,411.49 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 6.96 points, or 0.16 percent, to 4,385.63 points, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 31.69 points, or 0.24 percent, to 13,319.39 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)
