Stocks fluctuated between small gains and losses on Tuesday in another choppy session, with investors eyeing elevated commodity prices and other signs of inflation heading into corporate earnings season.
The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq hugged the flat line heading into afternoon trading. U.S. West Texas intermediate crude oil futures hovered near a seven-year high, with supply constraints and elevated fuel demand pushing prices higher over the past seven consecutive weeks. Outside of oil, aluminum prices also edged lower after reaching their highest level since 2008 on Monday, and copper prices turned lower after a near 2% jump.
For investors, the recent, broad rise in commodity prices has threatened to exert further pressure on corporate margins. Companies have already been grappling with a host of supply-side challenges, including port congestion and labor scarcities, that are expected to drag on profit growth heading into third-quarter earnings season later this week and over the next month. The Labor Department’s August Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey — due for release Tuesday morning — showed workplace vacancies held near a record high at the end of the summer.
And rising interest rates have also raised the specter of higher borrowing costs for companies, with the 10-year yield holding above 1.61% on Monday for its highest level since June.
“We’re definitely freaked out about crude oil prices … [and] about slightly higher interest rates,” David Bailin, Citi Private Bank chief investment officer, told Yahoo Finance. “But we have to put all of this in context. First of all, interest rates have been abnormally low. Energy prices are high due to excessive demand right now and delivery shortages across Europe and now in China … These things will abate. We think it’ll take somewhere between three and nine months for energy supplies and for the shipping issues to abate.”
Other strategists also suggested that investors look through the near-term supply-related challenges facing the markets.
“We’re going to have supply issues for a little bit longer here, but I think that’ll just work its way through,” Jeremy Bryan, portfolio manager for Gradient Investments, told Yahoo Finance Live on Monday. “The nice part about the U.S. economy and markets in general is they usually follow what the U.S. consumer does, and the U.S. consumer wants to spend. And that’s why we’re still positive on the markets.”
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1:04 p.m. ET: Micron shares sink after research firm predicts chip price decline this year
Shares of Micron Technology (MU) dropped by more than 4% Tuesday afternoon, tracking toward its worst day in two months after the market research firm TrendForce said it expected DRAM memory chip prices to decline in the fourth quarter this year, in a move that would undercut sales to Micron and other major chipmakers.
Peer chipmakers also sank Tuesday afternoon following the report. Western Digital Corp. (WDC) shares fell by more than…
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