Boeing jumps after offering new wage deal
Humana, Cigna fall after report companies resumed merger talks
114 S&P 500 companies to report results this week
Nvidia closed at record high
Indexes: Dow fell 0.8%, S&P down 0.18% and Nasdaq up 0.27%
Adds official closing prices, volume and other market data
By Lisa Pauline Mattackal, Purvi Agarwal and Carolina Mandl
Oct 21 (Reuters) – The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed lower on Monday, retreating from Friday’s record high closes and six straight weekly gains as Treasury yields rose and investors wary of high valuationsawaited earnings from major companies.
“It’s not at all unusual for the market to want to take a little bit of a breather after six weeks of continually record highs,” said Carol Schleif, chief investment officer at BMO Family Office.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 344.31 points, or 0.80%, to 42,931.60, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 10.69 points, or 0.18%, to 5,853.98. TheNasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 50.45 points, or 0.27%, to 18,540.01, boosted by the chip heavyweight Nvidia NVDA.O, which rose4.14% to close at a record high of $143.71.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury jumped as high as 4.17%, a 12-week high. US/
“The rise in the 10-year yield is causing confusion that maybe the economy is growing too rapidly and that employment remains too resilient,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “As a result, the Fed might end up being slower to lower interest rates.”
On Friday, the Dow and the S&P 500 both closed at record highs as all three major indexes posted a sixth consecutive week of gains, their longest winning streak this year.
Many rate-sensitive megacap technology stocks slipped. Tesla TSLA.O was down 0.84%.
After a fairly upbeat start to earnings season, the focus was on the 114 S&P 500 companies scheduled to report this week. These include Tesla, Coca-Cola KO.N and Texas Instruments TXN.O.
Ahead of a busy week for earnings, some investors likely took some profits, according to analysts. David Laut, chief investment officer at Abound Financial, said the market was looking at how stretched valuations are.
Of companies that have reported so far, 83.1% beat earnings estimates, according to data compiled by LSEG on Friday.
Monday’s declines were broad, with almost all 11 major S&P 500 sectors in the red.
The rate-sensitive Real Estate .SPLRCR sector dropped 2.08% as yields rose, while the technology sector was lifted by the jump in Nvidia.
The economically sensitive small-cap Russell 2000 .RUT dropped 1.61%.
Investors also looked ahead to the U.S. presidential election,withpolls showing chances improving for former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate.MKTS/GLOB
“As the election date approaches, even small changes in tight polls could drive seemingly erratic swings in market sentiment,” Danske Bank analysts said.
Boeing BA.N jumped 3.1% afternews that workers could vote on a new deal to end a costly five-week strike.
Spirit Airlines SAVE.N skyrocketed 53.06% after the company reached an agreement to extend a debt refinancing deadline by two months.
Humana HUM.N slipped 2.46% aftera report said Cigna CI.N had resumed merger talks with the health insurer. Cigna’s shares also fell 4.69%.
Home sales, flash PMI and durable goods reports are on the data docket through the week, as is the Fed’s Beige Book.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 3.51-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 262 new highs and 47 new lows on the NYSE.
The S&P 500 posted 42 new 52-week highs and two new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 89 new highs and 51 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.35 billion shares, compared with the 11.59 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
