NEW YORK, Jan 17 — Wall Street stocks fell early today, extending a pullback after strong US retail sales pushed bond yields higher.
US retail sales rose by 0.6 per cent in December, topping estimates. The data helped to push the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note further above four per cent.
“The key takeaway from the report is that consumer spending remained healthy in the final month of 2023, which does not strengthen the argument for an imminent start to a rapid rate cut campaign by (the Federal Reserve),” said a note from Briefing.com.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3 per cent at 37,250.01.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.7 per cent to 4,726.67, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.4 per cent to 14,729.78.
With large US banks having reported earnings in recent days, markets are looking ahead to key reports in the coming weeks from big US companies in technology, industrials and other sectors. — AFP