- Major US stock indexes lower in late morning trading
- Oil prices ease after Monday’s rally
- Dollar index falls
NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters) – Global equity indices fell on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 falling and Treasury yields falling after data suggested a slowdown in the US jobs market.
The US Department of Labor report showed that US job vacancies fell to their lowest level in almost two years in February.
In addition, a separate report showed that new orders for US-made goods fell for the second straight month in February as demand for commercial aircraft slowed.
The S&P 500 was hit the hardest by the economically sensitive industrials sector (.SPLRCI), which was last down 2%. Materials (.SPLRCM) were also lower.
The two-year government bond yield, which normally moves in line with interest rate expectations, fell 12.2 basis points to 3.858%, while the benchmark 10-year bond yield fell 4.5 basis points to 3.387%.
Crude oil prices also eased after Monday’s strong rally linked to the announcement on Sunday of a production target cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners.
US crude was recently down 0.27% at $80.20 a barrel and Brent was at $84.56, down 0.44% on the day.
The rise in oil prices has increased concerns about higher costs for businesses and consumers, but some investors believe US data signaling some slowdown in the economy could potentially allow the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 173.34 points, or 0.52%, to 33,427.81; the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 16.95 points, or 0.41%, to 4,107.56; and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) fell 42.95 points, or 0.35%, to 12,146.50.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) was up 0.02% and the MSCI global stock index (.MIWD00000PUS) was down 0.11%.
Glencore (GLEN.L), whose takeover bid for Teck Resources (TECKb.TO) was rejected by the Canadian copper miner the previous day, rose.
The Fed and other central banks have been raising interest rates to bring down inflation, and investors have tried to gauge how long the tightening cycle will last.
“The slowdown in the labor market is one of the things that is needed to fight inflation,” said Andrzej Skiba, head of the BlueBay US Fixed Income team at RBC Global Asset Management in New York.
The US dollar index was last down 0.5%, while the euro rose 0.6% to $1.0963.
The Australian dollar came under pressure after the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged after 10 straight hikes. It was last down 0.7% to $0.6737 against the US dollar.
Spot gold rose 1.9% to $2,021.19 an ounce.
Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Herbert Lash in New York; Edited by Raissa Kasolowsky, Jason Neely, Christina Fincher and Jonathan Oatis
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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