Wall Street stocks fall weighed by soft manufacturing data, NYSE glitches

NEW YORK: U.S. stocks were mostly lower in a choppy session on Monday following soft manufacturing sector data and as a glitch on the NYSE briefly caused trading halts in several equities.

A glitch at the New York Stock Exchange had triggered massive swings in the shares of Berkshire Hathaway and Barrick Gold. Trading in at least 60 NYSE-listed stocks were halted due to the volatility, before the bourse fixed the technical issue and activity resumed.

Markets also weighed data showing U.S. manufacturing activity had slowed for the second straight month, raising concerns of weakening economic growth.

“What you’re seeing when you look at the overall market is that it is trading down based on growth concerns relative to the continuation of more sluggish economic data,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services in Atlanta.

The Dow extended losses and the benchmark S&P 500 was lower, dragged down by energy and industrial equities. The Nasdaq edged higher from early losses. Benchmark U.S. 10-year note yields fell to a two-week low following the soft manufacturing data.

Traders see a 59% chance that the Fed will begin cutting rates in September, up from about 53% before the ISM data was released, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.

“Not only is the overall market down, the 10-year Treasury note is down about 8 basis points, and that’s another signal that investors are concerned about economic growth because they’re now buying the 10-year,” Lerner added.

At 02:16 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 296.72 points, or 0.77%, to 38,389.60, the S&P 500 lost 20.02 points, or 0.39%, to 5,256.85 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.49 points, or 0.02%, to 16,731.52.

Nvidia was up 3.6% after CEO Jensen Huang revealed that the company’s next-generation AI chip platform would be rolled out in 2026.

Shares of other megacaps including Apple, Amazon and Meta were gaining between 0.3% and 1.6%. Alphabet, Microsoft, and Tesla were losing ground.

GameStop soared 32% after a weekend Reddit post from stocks influencer Keith Gill, also known as “Roaring Kitty”, showed a $116 million bet on the gaming retailer.

Investors will be eyeing a data-packed week that includes surveys on the services sector, factory orders and Friday’s closely watched nonfarm payrolls report, which could provide clues to the Fed’s likely course of action with regards to rates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.2-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 1,848 stocks rose and 2,309 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.25-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 61 new highs and 89 new lows. – Reuters