Stock market today: Wall Street holds relatively steady ahead of big tests coming later in the week
U.S. stocks drifted through a quiet day to finish mixed, as markets around the world stabilized following a wild week
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks drifted through a quiet Monday to finish mixed, as markets around the world stabilized following a wild week of extreme swings.
The S&P 500 finished little changed, edging up by less than 0.01%, after flipping between small gains and losses through the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 140 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.
Many European and Asian stock markets were also relatively quiet. That’s a notable turn after last week kicked off with the worst day for Japanese stocks since the Black Monday crash of 1987, only to give way to the best day since 2022 for U.S. stocks.
The value of the Japanese yen eased on Monday, calming some more after an earlier surge sent shockwaves through markets. The sharp rise for the Japanese yen following a hike to interest rates by the Bank of Japan forced many hedge funds and other investors to abandon a popular trade all at once, where they had borrowed yen at cheap rates to invest elsewhere. The forced selling reverberated around the world.
A promise last week by a top Bank of Japan official not to raise rates further as long as markets are “unstable” has helped calm the market. But other worries were also behind last week’s turbulence for markets, including concerns about a slowing U.S. economy.
This upcoming week will feature reports on inflation and how much U.S. shoppers are spending at retailers. The best-case scenario for Wall Street would be data showing a continued slowdown in inflation, combined with strengthening U.S. retail sales.
That would indicate the Federal Reserve is successfully walking the
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