Stocks fell Tuesday as traders struggled to recuperate from sharp losses suffered within the previous session and looked ahead to more economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 40 points, or 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.7%, while the S&P 500 shed 0.3%.
Investors are looking forward to data coming later this week on topics corresponding to gross domestic product and jobs for insight into how the economy is performing. And so they are waiting for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s scheduled speech on the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings on Wednesday for clues into whether the central bank will slow or stop rate of interest hikes.
‘The market has shifted focus from the conclusion of the third quarter earnings reporting season to now additional aspects which might be more likely to influence the Federal Reserve of their December deliberations,” said Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank. “Investors are clearly focused on the trail ahead reasonably than looking within the rear-view mirror.”
Tuesday’s ticks downward follow steep losses Monday, with the Dow dropping nearly 500 points and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each losing greater than 1%, after protests in mainland China against the country’s zero-Covid policy began over the weekend. The protests elevated concerns over the potential for Chinese Covid protocols that would once more hamper global supply chains.
Overnight, nonetheless, global markets looked as if it would catch a reprieve as a Chinese official told reporters that 65.8% of individuals “over age 80” had received booster shots. On top of that, the federal government reported the primary decline in Covid infections inside mainland China in greater than every week. This contributed to a rally within the Hong Kong and Shanghai markets.