Stocks Fall As Tech Shares Weigh; Gold Rises Amid Inflation Concerns

NEW YORK: Stock indexes were lower globally on Monday with technology shares on Wall Street falling, while U.S. Treasury yields traded little changed even after a report showing the highest prices ever paid in a May manufacturing survey for New York State.

The S&P 500 technology sector was down 0.9% and was the biggest drag on the benchmark index.

Concerns over inflationary pressure helped to lift gold prices to their highest in more than three months, however.

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey, produced by the New York Fed, showed the prices paid index rose to a record 83.5, the highest since the data series began in 2001, said Tom Simons, money market economist at Jefferies & Co.

Wall Street’s declines follow the S&P 500’s biggest one-day jump in more than a month on Friday.

While the week is expected to be relatively quiet for economic data, investors will be anxious to see minutes on Wednesday from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting last month which could shed more light on the policymakers’ outlook on an economic rebound.

“The volatility has picked up because a lot of the good news has been priced in, and last week we finally saw fears of inflation,” said Greg Marcus, managing director, UBS Private Wealth Management.

The spread of the coronavirus was also a drag in some markets, with Singapore reporting the highest number of local infections in months and Taiwan seeing a spike in cases.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 62.96 points, or 0.18%, to 34,319.17, the S&P 500 lost 12.67 points, or 0.30%, to 4,161.18 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 83.23 points, or 0.62%, to 13,346.75.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.05% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.14%.

In the Treasury market, the yield on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes was near unchanged at 1.642%, below a spike to 1.77% in late March.

The dollar was steady near recent lows as new restrictions in Asia to contain COVID-19 supported safe-haven currencies, while bitcoin extended its slide.

The dollar index fell 0.13%, with the euro up 0.13% to $1.2156.

Bitcoin dropped to a three-month low after Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk suggested over the weekend that the electric automaker may have already sold some of its holdings in the digital currency.

Oil prices edged higher. Brent crude rose 1.1% to settle at $69.46 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 1.4% to settle at $66.27.

Spot gold added 1.3% to $1,865.70 an ounce.

(Additional reporting by Simon Jessop in London, and Medha Singh and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; and Herbert Lash and Stephen Culp in New York; editing by Kirsten Donovan, Nick Macfie, Ed Osmond and Cynthia Osterman)

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