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Dow sheds 250 points, S&P 500 slides to start the week

U.S. stocks fell to start the week Monday as investors weighed surging oil prices, economic worries and major third-quarter earnings results ahead.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 250.19 points, or 0.7%, to close at 34,496.06. The blue chip average was up more than 200 points at its intraday high. 

The S&P 500 ticked down 0.7% to 4,361.19. 

The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.6% to 14,486.20.

Stocks churned for most of the day, but selling increased in the final hour, with the major averages closing the session at their lows.

 

The U.S. bond market was closed Monday for Columbus Day.

U.S. oil benchmark WTI crude oil topped $82 a barrel at its session highs before trading around $80 Monday. The surging prices added to looming concerns about inflation.

 

U.S. earnings seen strong, but supply chains and costs worry investors

Investors are primed for another period of strong U.S. profit growth as third-quarter reports from Corporate America flow in starting this week. But as business continues to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, new problems are arising that are taking center stage for Wall Street, including supply-chain snags and inflationary pressures.

Analysts see a 29.6% year-over-year increase in earnings for S&P 500 companies in the third quarter, according to IBES data from Refinitiv as of Friday, down from 96.3% growth in the second quarter. The third-quarter forecast is down a touch from several weeks ago, a reversal of the recent trend for estimates.

Third-quarter earnings growth was always expected to be much lower than the blowout gain of the second quarter, when companies had much easier year-ago comparisons because of the pandemic.

Reference: CNBC, Reuters