Stocks Erase Gains to Turn Negative After Report Apple to Slow Hiring By

© Reuters.

By Liz Moyer

Fxgecko.com -- U.S. stocks turned negative on Open a foreign exchange dealerMonday after an earlier rally after a report Apple would slow hiring.

The markets had been higher earlier as big banks kicked off another busy week of earnings and expectations eased about a big interest rate increase by the Fed.

At 2:06 PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 28 points, or about 0.1%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.1%.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) beat expectations, its stock was up 1% after bond trading helped overcome weakness in M&A advisory. Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) rose 0.2% after its report also showed a slump in investment banking activity. Both had been up higher in earlier trading.

Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) ticked down about 1% after reports it would slow hiring and spending, becoming the latest tech giant to make such a move as fears of an economic downturn hit the sector.

Investors are betting that the Federal Reserve won’t be as aggressive as some were betting last week after the consumer price index for June showed a jump of 9.1% for the 12 months ending last month. 

High inflation stoked fears the Fed could jack up rates an uncharacteristically aggressive 1%, but now investors are expecting a 0.75 percentage point increase to match the move in June. That would still be one of the biggest moves since the 1990s.

Officials are trying to tame inflation, helped in recent weeks by a drop in gasoline prices, but still not enough for comfort. Food prices remain elevated as well, and a prolonged heat wave in much of the country means air conditioning bills will eat into household budgets this month.

This week will also see earnings from Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX).

Oil rose. Crude Oil WTI Futures jumped 4%, to $98.44 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude also rose 4%, to $105.23. Gold Futures rose 0.6%, to $1,713 an ounce.

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