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Wall Street ended flat on Monday with the Dow declining after six consecutive sessions of increase.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased by nearly 0.1% or 9.82 pips to 16,937.26. Blue-chip losses were led by Pfizer and General Electric where 15 out of 30 companies fell. This decline happened after GE and Alstom secured a $17 billion deal for energy assets.
The S&P 500 inched down but still finishing close to its record high on Friday at 1,962.61. The industrial sector led the decrease the energy sector tried to negate it. The Nasdaq Composite is the only one to climb among the three major US stocks with a half point increase at 4,368.68.
The CBOE Volatility Index or the fear gauge increased 1.2 % to 10.98, still far from the average 20 and still close to it’s seven-year low.
Chief investment strategist at RW Baird, Bruce Bittles, commented on Fed chair Janet Yellen’s announcement last week saying that her speech backed the market amid the geopolitical situation in Iraq and Ukraine. The Fed’s decision downplayed the anxiety over the inflation and asset-price bubbles. Bittles added that the market is already a little overbought but that it had a pretty good run. He suspects that the market will stay stable unless the Fed reassess their policy.
US report from the National Association Realtors showed that existing home sales increased by 4.9% in May. The annual rate comes to 4.9 million compared to the 1.5% increase in the previous month.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iraqi leader Nuri al-Maliki met in Baghdad on Monday to discuss the current situation in Iraq where the latest reports are telling of an invasion by Sunni tribesmen somewhere in the border between Iraq and Jordan. Kerry promises a heightened support to end the turmoil in Iraq.
