US Markets Start Week Red Ahead of Inflation Data

The major U.S. stock indices kick started the new week in the red, as markets responded to various economic and geopolitical factors. The S&P 500 ended the day down by 0.61%, the Dow Jones Industrials Average gave up 0.54%, the Nasdaq 100 Index closed with a loss of 0.84%, and the small cap Russell 2000 index shed 0.67%.

An element of profit-taking is certainly likely with markets having run hot through 2024, and with U.S. inflation data on deck, potentially some rebalancing. The expectation of a slight increase in November's consumer price index, projected to rise to 2.7% year-on-year from 2.6% in October, played a role in the cautious market environment and a pullback in market cap leader Nvidia (down 2.55%) on a China antitrust investigation set the scene for tech's larger than average retracement on the day.

Additionally, geopolitical risks heightened following the toppling of Bashar Al-Assad’s government in Syria by rebels, contributing to the market unease.

October wholesale trade sales showed an unexpected decline of 0.1% month-on-month, indicating possible economic headwinds. In contrast, Chinese monetary policy suggested a supportive stance for global equity markets with plans for a “moderately loose” strategy for the upcoming year.

There were some notable winners on the day, with the S&P 500's newly minted addition Workday (WDAY) up 5.06%, and C3 ai (NYSE:AI) posting a strong after hours gain of more than 5% as earnings beat expectations. Other after hours movers include Oracle (ORCL), down 7.80% after an earnings miss, and MongoDB (MDB) having earlier gained 11% on the earnings beat found itself down 1.82% by the close of the session, with some leadership changes coming in early 2025.