Stocks traded lower Monday after the S&P 500 set another record high and Wall Street prepared for a key meeting of the Federal Reserve later this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 88 points, or 0.26%, to 34,391, the S&P 500 decliend 0.17% and the Nasdaq was down 0.02%.
Investors will be keeping a close eye on an upcoming announcement on interest rates from the Federal Reserve’s policy-setting body, the Federal Open Market Committee, on Wednesday, followed by a press conference from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
While the U.S. central bank isn’t expected to take any action with respect to rates or a tapering of monthly asset purchases, Wall Street will be monitoring the meeting closely for the Fed’s forecasts on inflation and the strength of the economic recovery.
Lordstown Motors (RIDE) said Monday that CEO Steve Burns and Chief Financial Officer Julio Rodriguez have resigned, days after the electric truck maker warned it had “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern in the next year. Lordstown plunged 12%.
Biotech firm Novavax said Monday its Covid vaccine was shown to be safe and 90.4% effective overall in a phase three clinical trial of nearly 30,000 participants across the U.S. and Mexico. The two-dose vaccine was found to be 100% effective in preventing moderate and severe disease and 93% effective against some variants. Novavax plans to file for authorization with the FDA in the third quarter.
Gold slipped to the lowest in almost a month as a U.S. bond rally lost steam ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting, which may give clues on future monetary policy.
Spot gold fell 1.5% to $1,849.18 an ounce.
Oil prices rose on Monday, Brent was up 59 cents, or 0.8%, at $73.28 a barrel.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury inched up to around 1.472%. It hit a three-month low last Thursday.