Stocks Pause Gains As Treasury Yields Rise: What's Driving Markets Monday?

Wall Street kicked off the week with a cautious tone, as major stock indices hovered near the flatline by midday in New York. Investors digested fresh signs of inflationary pressure in the services sector, raising doubts about near-term rate cuts and weighing on risk appetite.

The ISM Services PMI for April pointed to only marginal growth, the slowest since late 2023, while the index for prices paid surged to its highest reading in more than two years, reflecting a sharp rise in input costs amid renewed trade disruptions tied to tariffs announced last month by President Donald Trump.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 5,670, while the Nasdaq 100 matched the decline to 20,050. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, managed a modest 0.2% gain. If the S&P 500 closes higher, it would mark its tenth consecutive session of gains, the longest winning streak since September 1995.

Rising bond yields pressured equities, with the 10-year Treasury yield climbing 4 basis points to 4.35%, and the 30-year yield up at 4.83%.

Speaking at the Milken Institute, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. was nearing agreements on new trade deals, potentially as soon as this week. He indicated that 17 trading partners, excluding China, had presented strong proposals, and suggested that meaningful progress with China could also emerge in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, oil prices dropped 2% to $57 a barrel following OPEC+'s signal of a 411,000 bpd production hike starting in June, with further increases possible over the summer.

Gold rallied 2%, on track for its strongest session in two weeks, while Bitcoin BTC/USD held steady near $94,000.

Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY inched 0.2% down to $565.72.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.3% to $414.11.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ fell 0.2% to $487.66.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM inched 0.1% lower to $200.11.
• The Industrials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLI outperformed, up 0.6%; the Energt Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE lagged, down 1.4%.

Monday’s Stock Movers

Stocks reacting to earnings reports included:

• Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK down 4.26%
• Cummins Inc. CMI up 2.07%
• Tyson Foods Inc. TSN down 7.63%
• Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. ZBH down 9.28%
• Loews Corp. L down 1.29%
• ON Semiconductor Corp. ON down 8.17%
• Henry Schein Inc. HSIC up 0.86%

Stocks scheduled to report earnings after the close include Ford Motor Co. F, The Clorox Co. CLX, Coterra Energy Inc. CTRA, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. VRTX, Diamondback Energy Inc. FANG, Realty Income Corp. O, The Williams Companies Inc. WMB, Celanese Corp. CE, Fabrinet FN, Lattice Semiconductor Corp. LSCC, Mattel Inc. MAT and Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR.

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