(Bloomberg) — Stocks were mixed as gains in industrial and financial shares tempered losses in technology companies. The dollar retreated.
The S&P 500 was little changed, while Boeing Co. drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher after a Bloomberg News report said the 737 Max is poised to resume commercial flights in China as soon as this month. The Nasdaq 100 underperformed major benchmarks, with megacaps like Tesla Inc. and Microsoft Corp. dropping.
In a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said the central bank will use its “powerful” tools to cut inflation. Prices paid to U.S. producers decelerated in December as two key drivers of inflation in 2021 — food and energy — declined from a month earlier, representing a respite in the recent trend of sizable increases.
“Investors are looking for signs of moderation in supply-chain disruptions as declining input costs would ultimately signal an easing of the consumer’s price burdens,” said John Lynch, chief investment officer for Comerica Wealth Management. “This could help clarify the extent of the Fed’s mission to raise rates in 2022 and beyond.”
Read: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rose to Highest Since Mid-November
Mortgage rates in the U.S. rose for a third straight week, reaching the highest point in almost two years. The average for a 30-year loan was 3.45%, up from 3.22% last week and the highest since March 2020, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday.
Morgan Stanley clients expect financial stocks to outperform this year, according to a survey at its annual conference this week. The poll shows that 45% of respondents bet the industry will be the best performer in 2022. That’s the highest share of the votes for the sector since 2015, the firm said in a note Thursday.
Here are some key events this week:
- Bank of Korea policy decision and briefing on Friday.
- Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan due to report earnings on Friday.
- U.S. business inventories, industrial production, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, retail sales on Friday.
- New York Fed President John Williams speaks Friday.
For more market analysis, read our MLIV blog.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The S&P 500 was little changed as of 11:46 a.m. New York time
- The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.6%
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
- The Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed
- The MSCI World index was little changed
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
- The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1464
- The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3731
- The Japanese yen rose 0.5% to 114.04 per dollar
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 1.72%
- Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to -0.09%
- Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 1.10%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed
- Gold futures fell 0.6% to $1,816.60 an ounce
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