US: Stocks retreat from multi-month peaks

WALL Street stocks dipped on Monday, pulling back a bit from multi-month highs reached last week after the United States avoided a catastrophic debt default.

Analysts cited profit taking as a factor in the market after last week’s congressional agreement to suspend the US debt ceiling and avert a default sparked a rally.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6 per cent to 33,562.86.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.2 per cent to 4,273.79, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.1 per cent to 13,229.43.

Stocks on Friday were also supported by solid US labour data.

But a key economic indicator released on Monday – a survey reflecting services industry activity in May – showed the slowest growth since December.

“The majority of respondents indicate that business conditions are currently stable; however, there are concerns relative to the slowing economy,” said Anthony Nieves of the Institute for Supply Management.

Among individual companies, Apple shed 0.8 per cent after unveiling its first-ever virtual reality headset. The headset will focus on gaming, streaming video and conferencing, as well as health and fitness.

The release puts Apple on a collision course with Facebook owner Meta, which had taken a head start on doubling down on virtual worlds, sometimes referred to as the metaverse.

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3M fell 4.4 per cent, giving back much of the gains from the prior session. A trial involving the industrial giant’s alleged water pollution due to “forever chemicals” was pushed back to give parties an opportunity to settle.

Such a settlement could involve a large 3M payout, but would remove a key uncertainty around the company. AFP