S&P 500 ekes out gain, snaps 4-day losing streak

Stocks sagged Monday as investors contemplated the chances of an interest rate increase this year and its impact on the earnings of multinational companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 83.64 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 17,826.69.

The S&P 500 was down 1.96 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 2,076.62 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 24.39 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 5,070.92.

China, one of the United States’ top trade partners, ended October with a record high trade surplus, with both exports and imports falling.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns about the outlook for monetary policy following last Friday’s better than expected October jobs report.

“The cuts seem to be driven by weak demand for the new iPhone 6s”, Credit Suisse said in a report, adding that its team in Asia says Apple has “lowered its component orders by as much as 10%”.

The strength of the US labor market, most Wall Street pros agreed, all but assures that the Janet Yellen-led Fed will use the latest window open to them and use it to hike rates. (ROK) slumped 3.4% after the maker of industrial equipment posted weaker-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rockwell-automation-misses-street-4q-121541871.html).

Plum Creek Timber (PCL.N) soared 17.1 percent after Weyerhaeuser (WY.N) said it would buy the company to create a $23 billion timber company.

S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were down 5.25 points, or 0.25 percent, with 134,017 contracts traded.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX – 15.29) ticked higher in early action, but blazed a steady trail lower in the final half of the day, giving up 1.2 points or 7.5%, when all was said and done.

On the other hand, gold stocks moved sharply lower on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.8 percent.

Wayfair Inc. (W) shares tumbled 14% even as the online home-goods retailer reporter better-than-expected results. The market expects employment to rise by 15,000, but the rate to remain unchanged at 6.2 per cent.

Reflecting the mixed close by the broader markets, the major sectors indexes also turned in mixed performance on the day. London’s FTSE index retreated by 19.80 points, or 0.31 percent, to 6,275.

Investors also focussed on renewed fears of a slowdown in China, a key market for many companies, ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season.

Treasury yields edged lower, with the 10-year yield near 2.33 percent and the 2-year yield around 0.86 percent as of 11:34 a.m. On Monday, the 10-year yield hit 2.377 percent, its highest level since July 21. A total of around 7.1 billion shares were traded on Monday, slightly higher than the last 20-session average of 7 billion.