Stocks closed down on Monday even as the major indexes remained on track to book their best month in over a year as an upbeat Wall Street kept rally hopes alive.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) dipped about 0.2%, or more than 50 points, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) also lost 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC), which traded in positive territory for most of the day, slipped in late trading, closing down roughly 0.1%.
The downbeat trading session comes after the averages booked their fourth straight weekly win on Friday.
High optimism for an end to US interest rate hikes has buoyed November’s rally in stocks, setting the Dow up for its strongest month since October of last year — and since July 2022 for the Nasdaq and S&P 500.
In a sign those upbeat spirits aren’t fading, the VIX — known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — closed on Friday at its lowest level since January 2020. On Monday, the mood was muted as Wall Street got back to work after the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
But a fresh reading on PCE inflation due Thursday could put the rally to the test, given it’s the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of consumer price pressures.
In the meantime, investors will monitor Cyber Monday updates for insight into whether Americans will splash out on holiday purchases even as purse strings tighten. Black Friday online sales rose 7.5% year over year to a record $9.8 billion while in-store totals also jumped.