The US markets ended mostly in red on Monday as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the earnings season and the release of key inflation data in the coming days. The Labor Department is scheduled to release its report on consumer price inflation on Wednesday, with the annual rate of consumer price growth expected to accelerate to 3.6 percent in September from 3.4 percent in August. The data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy meeting later this month.
On the sectoral front, while most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day, networking stocks moved sharply lower, dragging the NYSE Arca Networking Index down by 3.6 percent. Substantial weakness was also visible among computer hardware and semiconductor stocks, contributing to the drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Airline stocks also showed a significant move to the downside, while energy stocks moved sharply higher along with the price of crude oil.
Nasdaq fell by 120.26 points or 0.44 percent to 27,245.90 and S&P 500 was down by 4.3 points or 0.06 percent to 7,807.24, while Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 195.6 points or 0.38 percent to 51,850.55.
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