New York (AFP) - Wall Street stocks fell Monday after an early rally petered out, while the dollar weakened and oil prices continued to recover after recent declines.
Following upbeat sessions on European and Asian equity markets, New York appeared poised to extend Friday's positive momentum following commentary from banks expressing confidence in US economic resiliency.
But the trend reversed after Bloomberg News reported that Apple was pulling back on some investments in preparation for a potential economic slowdown.Apple shares fell more than two percent.
"Investors are becoming cautious again," said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities."I guess investors are looking for more convincing data that the earnings season is not going to be all that bad."
The broad-based S&P 500 fell gradually throughout the day, ending with a loss of 0.8 percent.
The session opened a heavy calendar of earnings reports, with results from Netflix, Johnson & Johnson and Tesla in the coming days.
ECB to act
The European Central Bank is set on Thursday to raise its interest rates for the first time in more than a decade.
To try and counteract a steep rise in prices, the central bank has said it intends to raise borrowing costs by a quarter point, the first such move since 2011.
The ECB's delay in acting compared with other central banks that have announced multiple increases -- coupled with fears of a eurozone recession -- saw the euro fall to parity with the dollar last week.
But on Monday, the European single currency was up around 0.6 percent against the dollar, while the British pound climbed 0.7 percent.
Meanwhile, crude prices jumped more than five percent, lifting West Texas Intermediate back above $100 a barrel and pushing Brent futures further above that key level.
"Oil prices are soaring again today, buoyed by an apparent easing in economic fears, stronger risk appetite and a failure by the White House to get any concrete commitment to increase oil output during the Middle East visit," said market analyst Craig Erlam at trading platform OANDA.
"When the biggest talking point from President (Joe) Biden's meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a fist bump photo, you know it probably hasn't gone to plan," he added.
Key figures at around 2040 GMT
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 31,072.61 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,830.85 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.8 percent at 11,360.05 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 7,223.24 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.7 percent at 12,959.81 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.9 percent at 6,091.91 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.0 percent at 3,511.86 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 2.7 percent at 20,846.18 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.6 percent at 3,278.10 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for a holiday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0146 from $1.0080 on Friday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.1950 from $1.1855
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.88 pence from 85.03 pence
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 138.13 yen from 138.68 yen
Brent North Sea crude: UP 5.1 percent at $106.27 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 5.1 percent at $102.60 per barrel
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