US markets end mostly in red on Monday

22 Oct 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly in red on Monday after the Conference Board released a report showing its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell by more than expected in the month of September. The report said the leading economic index slid by 0.5 percent in September after falling by a revised 0.3 percent in August. Street had expected the leading economic index to decrease by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.2 percent dip originally reported for the previous month. Overall trading activity was relatively subdued, as traders looked ahead to the release of a slew of corporate earnings news from big-name companies. 3M (MMM), General Motors (GM), Verizon (VZ), Boeing (BA), Coca-Cola (KO), IBM Corp. (IBM), Tesla (TSLA) and UPS (UPS) are among the companies due to report their quarterly results this week.

However, the Nasdaq fluctuated over the course of the session before eventually ending the day at its best closing level since setting a record closing high in July. On the sectoral front, Housing stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index plunging by 3.0 percent after ending last Friday's trading at a record closing high. Considerable weakness was also visible among commercial real estate stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent slumped by the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index. Telecom, banking and pharmaceutical stocks also saw significant weakness, while airline stocks showed a strong move to the upside.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 344.31 points or 0.8 percent to 42,931.6 and S&P 500 was down by 10.69 points or 0.18 percent to 5,853.98, while Nasdaq gained 50.45 points or 0.27 percent to 18,540.01.