By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting on Monday, as momentum slows following their sprint through May, which was their best month since 2023.
The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 149 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.
Some of the strongest action was in the oil market, where the price of crude jumped roughly 4%. The countries in the OPEC+ alliance decided to increase their production again, a move that often pushes crude prices down because it puts more on the market, but analysts said investors were widely expecting it. The past weekend’s attacks by Ukraine in Russia also helped to raise uncertainty about the flow of oil and gas around the world.
Related Articles
What cases are left on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket? Here’s a look
What we know about the suspect and victims in the Boulder, Colorado, attack
Today in History: June 2, Queen Elizabeth II crowned
FBI says 8 injured in Colorado attack by man with makeshift flamethrower who yelled ‘Free Palestine’
‘I didn’t get it done’: A reflective Tim Walz wants to make good
A barrel of U.S. crude rose 3.8% to $63.11, while Brent crude, the international standard, gained 4.3% to $65.50.
The swings also came after more harsh rhetoric crossed between the world’s two largest economies, just a few weeks after they had agreed to pause many of their tariffs that had threatened to drag the economy into a recession.
China blasted the U.S. on Monday for moves that it said hurt China’s interests, including issuing AI chip export control guidelines, stopping the sale of chip design software to China and planning to revoke Chinese student visas.
“These practices seriously violate the consensus” reached during trade discussions in Geneva last month, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement. That followed President Donald Trump’s accusation at the end of last week, where he said China was not living up to its end of the agreement that paused their tariffs against each other.
Hopes for lower tariffs because of trade deals that Trump could reach with other countries were the main reasons for last month’s rally for stocks, which brought the S&P 500 back within 3.8% of its all-time high. The index had dropped roughly 20% below the mark in April.
But Trump on Friday told Pennsylvania steelworkers he’s doubling the tariff on steel imports to 50% to protect their industry, a dramatic increase that could further push up prices for a metal used to make housing, autos and other goods.
Later in a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump confirmed the steel tariff and said that aluminum tariffs would also be doubled to 50%. Both tariff hikes would go into effect Wednesday, Trump said.
That helped stocks of U.S. steelmakers climb. Nucor jumped 12.1%, and Steel Dynamics rallied 13.4%.
But automakers and other heavy users of metals weakened. Ford fell 2.7%, and General Motors reversed by 2.4%.
In stock markets abroad, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6% following the harsh words tossed between the United States and China. A report over the weekend also said that China’s factory activity contracted in May, although the decline slowed from April.
Indexes also dipped across much of the rest of Asia and Europe. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was one of the biggest movers after falling 1.3%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields rose as worries continue about how much debt the U.S. government will pile on due to plans to cut taxes and increase the deficit.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.43% from 4.41% late Friday and from just 4.01% roughly two months ago. That’s a notable move for the bond market.
Besides making it more expensive for U.S. households and businesses to borrow money, such increases in Treasury yields can deter investors from paying high prices for stocks and other investments.
AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.
Leave a Reply