US close: Stocks edge lower to start the week
US stocks ended in the red again on Monday as the equity rout seen last week as a result of the yield on the 10-year Treasury note hitting a seven-year high above 3.25% was fresh in the minds of investors.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.35% to 25,390, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.59% to 2,750.79 and the Nasdaq fell 0.88% to 7,430.74.
Some solid gains in the real estate and consumer staples sectors gave the broader market a bit of a leg up but tech stocks continued on their downward path throughout the day.
That 10-year treasury yield was hovering at around 3.15% on Monday.
On the data front, the US consumer reined in spending sharply last month and economists believed a further slowdown was on the cards.
According to the Department of Commerce, total retail sales volumes edged up by 0.1% month-on-month in September to reach $509.0bn, falling short of economists' forecasts for an increase of 0.7%.
Elsewhere, manufacturing conditions in the New York region improved more than expected in October, according to a survey from the New York Fed.
The Empire State manufacturing index rose to 21.1 from 19 in September, beating expectations for a reading of 20. The survey found that around 36% of respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, while 15% said they had worsened.
The new orders index pushed up to 22.5 this month from 16.5 in September, while the shipments index increased to 26.3 from 14.3. The delivery time gauge ticked down to 5.0 from 6.5 in September and the inventories index slumped to 0.8 in October from 8.9 the previous month.
Meanwhile, the index for future business conditions was little changed at 29.0 versus 30.3 in September.
Commodities were on a roll at the start of the week with Brent crude oil futures ahead by 0.39% to $71.62 per barrel on NYMEX despite a veiled threat from Saudi Arabia over the weekend that it wield oil as a weapon if other countries acted against it in response to the alleged killing of a dissident journalist in Turkey.
Saudi Arabia has denied being behind Khashoggi's disappearance and alleged murder.
Capital Economics said: "We do not expect Saudi Arabia to cut oil production in response to US criticism over a missing journalist, not least because it will want to preserve the “anti-Iran axis” with the US.
"However, if the Kingdom were to cut output on a similar scale as it did in the 1970s, a price of $150 per barrel would not be unrealistic."
West Texas Intermediate was 0.22% higher at $71.67 a barrel.
In corporate news, Bank of America ended the day down 1.90% in after it narrowly beat analysts' forecasts, as strong consumer lending and lower tax rates bolstered its third-quarter performance.
Pre-tax income at America's second-largest lender was $9bn, ahead 18%, while net income improved 32% to $7.2bn. Revenues net of interest expense were ahead 4% at £22.8bn.
Elsewhere, department store chain Sears crashed another 23.83% after the beleaguered outfit filed for bankruptcy after years of losses and mounting competition from online rivals such as Amazon.
The once iconic American retailer filed for chapter 11 and said it would shutter a further 142 stores across the US by the end of the year, following 46 recently announced store closures, in an attempt to juggle its $5.6bn mountain of debt.
Looking ahead, third-quarter earnings from Goldman Sachs and video streaming giant Netflix were set to come later in the week.