The benchmark averages have surrendered earlier gains on news that China has deployed 150,000 troops to the North Korean border, and the U. S. is.
The benchmark averages have surrendered earlier gains on news that China has deployed 150,000 troops to the North Korean border, and the U. S. is considering further sanctions against Russia. The reports caused the S&P 500 to falter at trendline resistance at 2,370 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fall back to support at the 50-day moving average.
Stocks were cautiously higher before Monday’s open amid geopolitical pressures and jitters ahead of Q1 earnings from the country’s largest banks. As the morning progressed, the averages gained altitude before running into a wall of resistance that was exacerbated by reports of troop deployments on the Chinese border with North Korea by a Korean news agency.
Among the eleven S&P 500 sectors, financials were taking the brunt of selling pressure, followed by losses in technology and telecommunication sectors. Energy shares continued to outperform with oil futures buoyed by concerns tied to the Middle East, and supply reductions from Libya.
European shares were lower in sympathy with the U. S. with commodity shares sharing the burden with oil stocks despite the uptick in oil futures.
Crude oil was up $0.64 to $52.88 per barrel. Natural gas was unchanged at $3.26 per 1 million BTU. Gold was up $0.
