Stocks close lower Tuesday, Dow and S&P 500 snap four-day win streaks as economic worries loom: Live updates

CNBC – UPDATED TUE, APR 4 20235:57 PM EDT

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 200 points on Tuesday as traders assessed a spike in oil prices and what that could mean for the global economy.

The Dow dropped 198.77 points, or 0.59% to close at 33,402.38. The S&P 500 declined by 0.58% to end the session at 4,100.60. Both indexes snapped a four-day win streak. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.52%, closing at 12,126.33.

The market losses followed the latest job openings report. In February, the number of available positions dropped below 10 million for the first time in nearly two years, a sign the once-hot labor market supporting the economy is starting to slow.

“There’s still plenty of job openings relative to [the] unemployed,” said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. “The market is very sensitive to any minor change in the direction that they don’t want to see.”

To be sure, markets have been resilient as of late, with the major averages rising even when faced by persistent inflation, a banking crisis and higher rates.

“Resilient is a good word,” said Julian Emanuel, senior managing director at Evercore ISI. ” [The] bottom line is that the economic forward looking backdrop continues to soften even as present conditions (2-3% GDP in 1Q) remain strong, set against already defensive positioning, stocks remain deadlocked in the 3800 -4200 range.”

This week, the energy market became another potential source of uncertainty, after OPEC+ announced it was slashing output by 1.16 million barrels of oil per day. On Monday, West Texas Intermediate futures had their biggest daily gain in nearly a year on the news.

“Given the transition the world is undergoing as it embraces ‘clean and green energy,’ OPEC+ understands all too well that its still highly valued ‘liquid gold’ will at some point begin to lose its shine,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial.

“Until then, as the countries dominating OPEC+ prepare for the future by spending trillions of dollars rebuilding infrastructure and refocusing away from crude oil as their primary source of income, managing the price of crude will be used more directly and aggressively than was anticipated,” she added.

Lea la cobertura del mercado de hoy en español aquí.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/03/stock-market-futures-open-to-close-news.html