US: Stocks finish choppy day modestly up

WALL Street stocks finished a choppy session modestly higher on Monday as markets monitored rising Treasury yields ahead of key inflation data. US equities started the week strongly before giving up most gains as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, a proxy for inflation and interest rates, climbed above three percent. “That was a catalyst-free rally that we got this morning, with not much to sort of stand behind that shift, except for the China reopening story,” said Art Hogan, strategist at National Securities. “Equity investors kind of ran out of enthusiasm.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1 per cent to end at 32,915.78. The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3 per cent to close at 4,121.43, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent to 12,061.37. Stocks have been on the defensive for much of 2022 as the Federal Reserve moves forcefully to tighten monetary policy in an effort to contain inflation. At the centre of focus this week will be Friday’s consumer price index report, seen as an important input into the Fed’s next moves. Among individual companies, Apple gained 0.5 per cent following a series of new announcements that included new iPhone software and new laptop offerings. Twitter fell 1.5 per cent amid growing doubt over its pending takeover by Elon Musk after the Tesla founder threatened to abandon the deal due to questions about the social media company’s accounting of fake accounts. Spirit Airways jumped 7.1 per cent as JetBlue sweetened its takeover bid for the carrier, increasing its breakup fee to US$350 million from the US$200 million previously offered. AFP JetBlue tacked on 2.1 per cent, while Frontier Group, which has sealed a takeover agreement with Spirit, rose 4.5 per cent. AFP