US STOCKS-Wall St falls, reversing early gains as rebound loses steam

Activision Blizzard

22/09/2023 19:35

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click  LIVE/  or type LIVE/ in a news window)

        * 
      Ford up on Reuters report UAW has made progress in labor
talks
    

        * 
      Activision up as UK set to clear revised Microsoft
takeover deal
    

        * 
      Indexes: Dow down 0.19%, S&P off 0.10%, Nasdaq up 0.02%
    

  
 (Updated at 2:21PM ET)
    By Stephen Culp
       NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Wall Street turned lower
on Friday, reversing an early rebound from Thursday's steep
sell-off, and benchmark Treasury yields backed down off 16-year
highs as investors neared the end of a tumultuous week.
    The S&P 500 and the Dow in negative territory, with Tesla
Inc  TSLA.O  and Microsoft Corp  MSFT.O  weighing heaviest. The
Nasdaq was essentially unchanged.
    All three indexes are on track to notch weekly losses, with
the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq headed for their largest
Friday-to-Friday percentage decline since March.
    On Thursday, the S&P 500 dipped below its 100-day moving
average - a key support level - for the first time since March,
Its failure to break above that level suggests the index is
still under downward pressure.
        "Investors are testing the market, gauging how much have
we lost whether it’s time to step back in," said Robert Pavlik,
senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield,
Connecticut.
  
    Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields retreated from 16-year highs
as investors turned their focus from hawkish Fed guidance to key
economic data waiting in the wings.
    Investors were still digesting the Fed's decision to let its
key interest rate stand, but updated its quarterly Summary
Economic Projections to suggest restrictive monetary policy will
remain in place longer than previously anticipated.
    Remarks from Fed Governor Michelle Bowman supported the FOMC
hawks, suggesting the Fed funds target rate should be raised
further and held "at a restrictive level for some time" to bring
inflation down to the central bank's 2% target.    
        "There are a lot of factors working against a soft
landing and that’s something the Fed needs to be reminded of
because pushing rates higher could push us into recession,"
Pavlik added.
  
    At 2:21PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  fell
64.04 points, or 0.19%, to 34,006.38, the S&P 500  .SPX  lost
4.22 points, or 0.10%, to 4,325.78 and the Nasdaq Composite
 .IXIC  added 2.46 points, or 0.02%, to 13,226.45.
    Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, consumer
discretionary  .SPLRCD  was down the most. Tech shares  .SPLRCT 
had the largest percentage gains. 
    Ford Motor Co  F.N  gained 2.3% after the striking United
Auto Workers union reported progress in talks with the
automaker.
    Activision Blizzard  ATVI.O  added 1.7% in the wake
Britain's antitrust regulator's statement that Microsoft Corp's
 MSFT.O  restructured $69 billion acquisition of the company by
"opens the door" to the biggest-ever gaming deal being cleared.
    U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms including PDD Holdings
 PDD.O , JD.com  JD.O , Li Auto  LI.O  and Baidu  BIDU.O  rose
between 2% and 4% on signs of an economic a rebound, while
Alibaba  BABA.N  jumped 4.7% after Bloomberg reported that
report the company's logistics arm Cainiao was planning to file
for a Hong Kong IPO as soon as next week.
    Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.24-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.09-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
    The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week highs and 34 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 24 new highs and 267 new lows.

 (Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Ankika
Biswas and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by David
Gregorio)
 ((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076;))