U.S. stocks fell Tuesday, as momentum on Wall Street faded following the S&P 500’s best week since 2020.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed about 400 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 lost 1%. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.8%.
After a holiday hiatus Monday, U.S. stocks are on track to close the month lower despite last week’s massive rally. The Dow and the S&P 500 are both down less than 1% in May, while the Nasdaq is off by more than 2%.
Tuesday’s moves came amid mounting concerns that rising inflation in the U.S. and around the world could slow down economic growth. In Europe, euro zone inflation hit a record high for a seventh straight month, surging 8.1% in May. In the U.S., the core personal consumption expenditures price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — rose by 4.9% in April from a year ago.
“It will be difficult to reverse the Fire and Ice,” Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson said in a note Tuesday. “Higher inflation and slower growth are now the consensus view but that doesn’t mean it’s fully discounted. The more equity prices rise, the more hawkish the Fed will be.”
Industrial stocks linked to the economic cycle fell Tuesday, weighing on the Dow. 3M, Honeywell and Boeing each lost about 2%.
Healthcare was the worst-performing S&P sector, down 1.8% Tuesday. Johnson & Johnson led the Dow to the downside, off by nearly 3%.
Worries over higher inflation also grew as oil prices jumped following the European Union agreeing to ban most crude imports from Russia. West Texas Intermediate futures rose about 3.5% to more than $119 per barrel. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.9% to about $124 per barrel.
Energy stocks were the only positive sector Tuesday. Marathon Oil jumped more than 5%, while Diamondback Energy rose about 4% and Occidental Petroleum gained more than 3%.
The Dow and the S&P 500 were coming off their best weekly gains since November 2020. The blue-chip average closed up 6.2% for the week, ending an eight-week losing streak. The S&P 500 gained 6.5%, and the Nasdaq added 6.8% on the week, ending positive after seven continual weeks of losses. Solid earnings from the retail sector, as well as an inflation report that showed prices could be easing, lifted investor sentiment.
Still, stocks remain well off their highs. The Dow is about 11% below its record, the S&P 500 is down more than 14%, and the Nasdaq is off by roughly 26%.
“Bear markets are incredibly difficult to navigate, because they are inherently volatile and prone to sharp upside rallies,” Wolfe Research’s Chris Senyek said in a note Tuesday.
Traders will look through more corporate quarterly earnings during the holiday-shortened week. Salesforce, HP and Victoria’s Secret are expected to report earnings on Tuesday after the bell.
