Stock Market Today: Dow ends lower in muted trade as investors await economic data
Investing.com — The Dow closed lower Monday in muted trade as investors were reluctant to make big bets on stocks ahead of further catalysts including key economic data due later this week.
By 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 56 points, or 0.2%, the S&P 500 was 0.2% lower, and the NASDAQ Composite slipped 0.1%.
Energy stocks were the biggest drag on the broader market, weighed down by falling oil prices ahead of the OPEC+ meeting later in the week.
Oil prices snapped a four-week losing streak last week, but sentiment remains cautious even as uncertainty eased about whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, deeper oil production cuts.
Ahead of the meeting later this week, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source that OPEC+ was mulling a «collective further reduction» in output cuts.
An OPEC+ cut in output would help offset the increase in supply growth from non-OPEC sources that has helped to keep a lid on oil prices.
Fresh inflation data to headline slew of economic reports this week
A slew of economic data will likely set the tone for trading this week, with the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, due Thursday, likely to be closely watched for further signs of slowing price pressures ahead of the Fed's Dec. 13-14 meeting.
Economists expect headline PCE to have risen just 0.1% on the month in November, a drop from 0.4% in September. The core reading, which strips out food and fuel costs and is considered a better gauge of underlying inflation, is expected to have risen 3.5% on a year-over-year basis, a drop from 3.7% the prior month, and the lowest since mid-2021.
The first revision of
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