US stocks pull back as bitcoin, gold score record highs
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Wall Street retreated on Tuesday while bitcoin and gold touched all-time highs as market participants eyed upcoming economic data and central bank actions.
All three major U.S. stock indexes followed their European counterparts lower in anticipation of the February jobs report due on Friday, as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's two-day congressional testimony expected to begin on Wednesday.
«This seems to be a day when bad news is bad news. We had sluggish data,» Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis. «It’s more about concerns about a slowing economy, and less about how many times the Fed will cut interest rates this year.»
Despite the risk-averse sentiment among stock investors, bitcoin touched, and then backed away from, a record high.
«You’ve had this big run in stocks, and investors are looking to put their money into some other areas where they think they can generate some cash,» said Chuck Carlson, CEO at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana.
Gold also reached an all-time high, powered by interest rate cut expectations.
«We can draw the line from weaker economic data to higher expectations that the Fed to cut interest rates to less support for the dollar, which, in turn supports gold,» Hainlin added.
Economic data showed a waning expansion of the U.S. services sector, and a steeper-than expected drop in new factory orders.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 416.44 points, or 1.07%, to 38,573.39, the S&P 500 lost 60.88 points, or 1.19%, to 5,070.07 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 314.26 points, or 1.94%, to 15,893.25.
European shares ended lower after moves by China to stimulate its economy failed to impress
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