Stocks traded on Wall Street ended in the red Monday as investors expected a likely interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve later this week.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 262.59 points, or 2 percent, to 12581.22, its lowest level since December 2020, after China instituted a lockdown in key manufacturing areas of Shenzhen and Changchun due to a new outbreak of Covid-19 cases.
Apple’s shares fell 2.7 percent because of the health measures in China. Other big tech names also suffered, Amazon losing 2.5 % while Alphabet, Google’s parent company, lost 3%.
The S&P 500, which has fallen for four of the past five weeks, lost 31.20 points, or 0.7%, to 4173.11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.05 points to 32945.24, ending a streak of two consecutive declines.
U.S. oil prices, meanwhile, briefly fell below $100 a barrel on Monday, reversing a significant portion of the recent surge sparked by Russia’s armed conflict with Ukraine.
Oil plunged more than 8 percent, briefly touching a low of $99.76 a barrel. WTI crude oil futures settled at $103.01. Oil has lost nearly a quarter of its value since hitting a nearly 14-year high of $130.50 a barrel on March 6.
This is the first time oil has traded below $100 since March 1.
Futures linked to palladium, which is widely mined in Russia and used in electronics, dentistry and medicine, fell 15%, its biggest drop since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.
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