Wall Street falls ahead of first-quarter earnings
Wall Street edged lower on Monday after two consecutive weeks of gains as fears increased that the strong dollar and lower oil prices will hurt US first-quarter earnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 81 points, or 0.45%, to 17,977; the S&P 500 dropped 10 points, or 0.46%, to 2,092, and the Nasdaq Composite eased eight points, or 0.15%, to 4,988.
The dollar was last up 0.1% against a basket of major currencies after hitting a peak of 99.99, its highest in four weeks. A stronger dollar tends to hurt profits for US multinationals.
The decline in the market was led by industrials. Shares of General Electric Co fell 3.1% after rallying on Friday, when the company said it may return more than $90 billion to investors through 2018. Shares of 3M Co were down 0.7%.
Among the companies expected to report this week are GE, Intel Corp and Johnson & Johnson, whose shares fell 1.5% on Monday. Several big banks, including JP Morgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp, also are due to report.
In post-market trading, shares of Norfolk Southern Corp fell 3.8% after the railroad gave a disappointing outlook.
During the regular session, Apple Inc shares dipped 0.2%, reversing earlier gains that followed reports the company may have received about an initial million orders for its Apple Watch.
Netflix Inc shares rose 4.4% after the video streaming company said on Friday it was seeking to increase its share authorisation by nearly 30 times as a possible first step toward a stock split.
In Asia, stocks were mixed early Tuesday, with sentiment subdued after Wall Street broke a three-day winning streak overnight.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was virtually unchanged by mid-morning trade. China’s Shanghai Composite index inched up 0.2%, reversing a lower open, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tanked nearly 1% at the open.
South Korea’s Kospi index pushed through the 2,100-point level for the first time in nearly four years. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 index declined amid mixed trading among its key banking and resources sectors. In Singapore, the Straits Times index inched up modestly to near its highest level since December 2007.
Source: Citywire – Wall Street falls ahead of first-quarter earnings
