Trading stocks were mostly down on Monday, continuing Friday's significant downturn. The major market indexes including the Nasdaq and S&P 500 retracted further following Last week's record highs.
At present, the major market indexes, while off their lowest points of the session, are still in the negative. The Dow is decreased by 212.11 points, or 0.6 percent, at 38,510.58. The Nasdaq fell by 41.02 points, or 0.3 percent, sitting at 16,044.09. Also, the S&P 500 dropped by 21.68 points, or 0.4 percent, and stands at 5,102.01.
The continued Wall Street slump arises from uncertainty surrounding the future of interest rates. This arises ahead of forthcoming key inflation data releases. The Labor Department is set to publish a report Tuesday on consumer price inflation for February. It's believed by economists that consumer prices will increase by 0.4 percent, following a 0.3 percent rise in January.
Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy costs, are set to increase by 0.3 percent in February, following a 0.4 percent increase the prior month. Meanwhile, the annual rate of consumer price inflation should remain steady at 3.1 percent. However, the yearly core consumer price inflation is expected to slow to 3.7 percent from 3.9 percent.
This consumer price inflation data could significantly impact the view of interest rates, as Federal Reserve officials remarked that they need greater assurance of inflation decreasing before they consider reducing rates. Even though the Federal Reserve is likely to maintain its rates at next week's monetary policy meeting, this data could influence expectations about when the central bank will ultimately lower rates.
On Thursday, the Labor Department plans to present a separate report about February's producer price inflation. Producer prices are projected to increase by 0.3 percent, aligning with January's jump, while the annual producer price inflation rate should speed up to 1.2 percent from 0.9 percent.
Upcoming reports on retail sales, industrial production, and consumer sentiment will likely draw interest in the following days.
In sector-specific news, steel stocks have made a significant downward shift, resulting in a 2.0 percent slide by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. Similarly, substantial weakness is apparent among semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index recording a loss of 1.4 percent. Computer hardware stocks also saw considerable reduction, pulling the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 1.3 percent.
Notable downward movement was seen in airline, pharmaceutical and retail stocks too. However, gold stocks went against the trend, benefiting from a slight increase in the price of the precious metal.
Overseas trading saw mixed outcomes across Asia-Pacific stock markets on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index suffered a 2.2 percent decline while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 1.4 percent. European markets weren't so fortunate — all major indexes experienced downturns. The German DAX Index fell by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index by 0.4 percent, and the UK's FTSE 100 Index by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries remained directionless, mirroring the flaccid performance from the previous Friday. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note which inversely correlates with its price, experienced a slight increase of less than a basis point and stands at 4.096 percent.
