Tag Archives: Stock Market

Wall Street resumes 2016 slide as energy stocks tumble

(Reuters) – Wall Street sold off on Monday, pulled lower by further weakness in oil prices as energy shares led declines, with major indexes retreating after last week’s strong gains.

Oil prices fell 6 percent on concerns of oversupply after news that Iraq’s output reached a record last month.

The S&P energy group dropped 4.5 percent, the worst performing sector. Exxon and Chevron each fell more than 3 percent, while ConocoPhillips tumbled 9.2 percent after Barclays said the company should cut its dividend by at least 75 percent.

The major indexes each fell more than 1 percent, reversing much of a two-session rally that marked Wall Street’s first week of gains in the year. All 10 major S&P sectors finished the session lower.

During the poor start for the year for U.S. stocks, their performance has closely correlated with the price of oil. The commodity’s dramatic 1-1/2-year slide has sparked broad concerns about a global economic slowdown.

“Today is all about oil,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

“Better oil markets Thursday and Friday led to better equity markets. A $2 retracement in oil today, it’s not surprising to see a retracement in the equity indices.”

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 208.29 points, or 1.29 percent, to 15,885.22, the S&P 500 lost 29.82 points, or 1.56 percent, to 1,877.08 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 72.69 points, or 1.58 percent, to 4,518.49.

Investors will look for insight about the economy’s direction later this week as many heavyweight companies report results. Federal Reserve policymakers meet on Tuesday and Wednesday for the first time since raising interest rates in December.

“The macroeconomic reality is catching up to equity valuations, and you’re seeing folks say, ‘I’m going to take my winnings and get out of the way for a while,'” said Jeff Buetow, chief investment officer at Innealta Capital in Austin, Texas.

D.R. Horton shares fell 4.7 percent to $26.40 as the No. 1 U.S. homebuilder reported lower-than-expected revenue as its home sales fell in all regions but the Southeast.

Tyco International jumped 11.6 percent to $34.15 after Johnson Controls said it would merge with the Ireland-based fire protection and security systems maker. Johnson Controls dropped 3.9 percent to $34.21.

Shares of Dynegy and NRG Energy slumped 11.5 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively, after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a major Obama administration electricity markets regulation.

Caterpillar dropped 5 percent to $57.91 after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the stock to “sell”.

Twitter fell 4.6 percent to $17.02 after Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said four senior executives would leave the social media company.

About 7.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, slightly below the 8.1 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,642 to 466, for a 5.67-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 2,132 issues fell and 716 advanced for a 2.98-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 3 new 52-week highs and 22 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 12 new highs and 103 new lows.

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, additional reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Nick Zieminski)

Wall Street rally stamps exclamation point on volatile week

(Reuters) – Wall Street surged 2 percent on Friday to wrap up its first positive week of 2016 as a cold snap in the United States and Europe sent oil prices sharply higher.

A 4.3-percent jump in the S&P energy sector laid the foundation for the S&P 500’s strongest session so far this year.

Crude prices, recently under pressure from a global glut, recovered 9 percent as harsh winter weather boosted demand for heating oil and traders cashed in short positions following a steep drop this month.

After dropping earlier this week to 2014 lows, the S&P 500 has recovered in the past two sessions to end the week 1.4-percent higher. But the index is still down 7 percent in 2016 and remains at levels touched last August when fears of trouble in China’s economy rattled global markets.

“Trying to push stocks up from this level is a bit more difficult than pushing them down. We could be in a very wide range for a long period of time,” said Warren West, principal at Greentree Brokerage Services in Philadelphia.

The Dow Jones industrial average rallied 1.33 percent to finish the session at 16,093.51 points while the S&P 500 surged 2.03 percent to 1,906.9.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.66 percent to 4,591.18.

The recent volatility has led to a spike in volume. About 9.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, well above the 8.0 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

U.S. economic data on Friday showed existing home sales soared nearly 15 percent in December, handily beating estimates and recovering from a 10.5 percent fall in November.

Apple rose 5.32 percent and gave the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Despite widespread concerns about potentially weak iPhone demand, Piper Jaffray recommended buying Apple’s shares heading into its quarterly results next week.

Fourth-quarter earnings reports are likely to offer little cheer, with S&P 500 companies on average expected to post a 4.3 percent decline in profit, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Shares of General Electric declined 1.22 percent after its quarterly revenue missed analysts’ estimates.

American Express fell 12.10 percent after a disappointing earnings forecast.

Schlumberger rose 6.10 percent. The world’s biggest oilfield services company reported better-than-expected profit and set a $10 billion buyback program.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,806 to 329. On the Nasdaq, 2,308 issues rose and 527 fell.

The S&P 500 showed three new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 13 new highs and 50 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Badly bruised Wall Street finds solace in oil rebound

(Reuters) – Wall Street staged a modest rally on Thursday as oil prices recorded their biggest gain this year and ECB President Mario Draghi raised hopes of more stimulus for Europe.

Seven of 10 major S&P 500 sectors climbed, with a 2.88-percent jump in energy stocks leading the way.

Helping global and U.S. stocks, the European Central Bank kept its main rates on hold and Draghi said the central bank would “review and possibly reconsider” its monetary policy as soon as March. Many analysts had not expected a rate cut before June.

Also boosting share prices, oil spiked from a 12-year low after U.S. crude stockpiles did not rise as much as feared.

In the prior session, the relentless drop in oil prices and fears of a China-led global economic slowdown had sent the S&P 500 to its lowest since 2014. The index remains at lows not seen since September last year.

A lack of upbeat technical measures made some investors doubt that Thursday’s gains would hold, and many remained cautious the market could fall further.

“It’s a different situation than in previous years when you could buy the dip and be very confident,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co in Nashville. “Here you have a trend that has turned negative and a Fed that is far less friendly than in 2012, ’13 or ’14.”

Billionaire investor George Soros told Bloomberg TV he shorted the S&P 500.

With fourth-quarter reporting season under way, S&P 500 companies on average are expected to post 4.5-percent lower earnings, according to Thomson Reuters data. But excluding the badly bruised energy sector, earnings are seen growing 1.6 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended 0.74 percent stronger at 15,882.68 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.52 percent to 1,868.99. Earlier in the day, the S&P 500 was up as much as 1.64 percent before losing most of that gain.

The Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.01 percent to 4,472.06.

The recent volatility has led to a spike in volume. About 9.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared to the 7.8 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Home Depot gave the biggest boost to the Dow, rising 3.23 percent after JP Morgan said warm weather could help the home improvement company.

Kinder Morgan surged 15.6 percent as the pipeline company outlined plans to cut debt and spending, raising the chances of a higher dividend.

Union Pacific fell 3.55 percent after the railroad operator said weak business conditions would persist in 2016, a warning that also weighed on its peers.

The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 14 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 4 new highs and 91 new lows.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,003 to 1,075, for a 1.86-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,508 issues rose and 1,292 fell for a 1.17-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Wall Street plummets further as oil slide continues

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s recent selloff deepened on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 closing at its lowest in over a year as U.S. oil prices plummeted to 2003 lows.

The equities rout was widespread, hitting nine of the 10 major S&P sectors. The small-cap Russell’s 2000 index fell 3.6 percent before reversing its loss late in the session.

The beaten-down S&P energy sector fell 2.93 percent, leading the losers. Exxon dropped 4.21 percent and Chevron slumped 3.10 percent.

Collapsing oil prices and fears of a slowdown in China, the world’s second largest economy and a key market for U.S. companies, have led the S&P 500 to drop 9 percent this year. In the past six months, the energy sector has fallen 26 percent.

“The fear is, ‘Is tomorrow going to bring more selling?’ People are not even thinking about today, they’re thinking about tomorrow,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

U.S. crude sank 6.6 percent on Wednesday as a supply glut bumped up against bearish financial reports that deepened worries over demand.

But a late-day bounce in U.S. oil prices helped reduce losses in stocks.

“If you look at crude prices, they are shooting right back up,” Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, said ahead of the close.

The S&P 500 ended down 1.17 percent at 1,859.33, its lowest close since October 2014. It had fallen as low as 1,812.29.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended 1.56 percent lower at 15,766.74 points.

After a brief late-day rally into positive territory, the Nasdaq Composite lost steam and ended down 0.12 percent at 4,471.69.

The CBOE volatility index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, jumped 5.9 percent to 27.59.

Strength last year in Netflix, Facebook and a handful of other technology stocks masked troubled sentiment in other S&P 500 components, said R Squared portfolio manager Riad Younes.

“You had a crowded trade on a few names that kept the average much higher than it should be,” Younes said. “It feels like a bear market for the average stock.”

IBM weighed the most on the Dow, falling 4.88 percent after disappointing earnings report.

Netflix ended down 0.14 percent despite better-than-expected growth in its subscriber base.

An unusually high 12.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, well above the 7.8 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The New York Stock Exchange recorded 2,271 stocks advancing stocks and 883 decliners. On the Nasdaq, 1,551 issues fell and 1,331 advanced.

The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 182 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 5 new highs and 728 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Nick Zieminski)

U.S. stocks falter as oil fears spoil China enthusiasm

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks pared gains on Tuesday amid a renewed drop in oil prices, giving up most of an early rally that had been spurred by speculation of more stimulus efforts in China.

Stock markets from Asia to Europe, and initially on Wall Street, rallied to snap a rout this year in equities after Chinese gross domestic product data showed the slowest growth last year in a quarter century.

Shares in Europe rose more than 1 percent, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.6 percent. But gains on Wall Street were modest, and the Nasdaq closed slightly lower.

The market’s euphoria struck Simon Smith, chief economist at online brokerage FxPro, as odd given that weak GDP data are strange reasons to cheer China. Stimulus can only mean more interest rate cuts or reduced reserve requirements, which would weaken the Chinese currency further, he said.

“Most of the time developed markets have been happy to ignore and be totally uncorrelated to the China markets,” Smith said.

The major U.S. equity indexes faltered as crude prices traded below $29 a barrel. The International Energy Agency, which advises developed countries on energy policy, said the market should remain oversupplied this year and weaker prices could lie ahead.

The potential for oil to tumble further has scared investors as they’re reminded of the financial crisis in 2008 when many financial stocks cratered and their prices never recovered to former levels, Rick Meckler, president of hedge fund LibertyView Capital Management LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey.

“You’re just having this testing of what the bottom on energy is and no one knows the impact of a complete collapse the energy industry would have on U.S. equity prices,” he said, adding that people are afraid oil prices might collapse.

MSCI’s all-country world stock index rose 0.56 percent, paring gains of more than 1 percent. In Europe, the pan-regional FTSEurofirst 300 index closed 1.37-percent higher at 1,310.95.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 27.94 points, or 0.17 percent, to 16,016.02. The S&P 500 rose 1 point, or 0.05 percent, to 1,881.33 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 11.47 points, or 0.26 percent, to 4,476.95.

Brent crude futures closed a touch higher, while the U.S. futures contract slid; their prices settled 30 cents apart. The U.S. contract did not settle on Monday, a U.S. holiday.

Brent crude futures rose 0.74 percent to settle at $28.76 a barrel. U.S. crude futures fell 3.26 percent to settle at $28.46. Earlier they had touched an intra-day high of $30.21.

Investor risk appetite initially improved on the expectation of further stimulus in China and rising prices for Brent, the global benchmark. Chinese oil demand likely hit a record in 2015, helping bolster the global oil benchmark.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major trading currencies, pared most gains to trade 0.11 percent higher. The dollar added 0.22 percent against the Japanese currency, moving to 117.57 yen.

Against the euro, the dollar slipped 0.18 percent to $1.0909.

The benchmark U.S. Treasury note fell 5/32 to lift its yield to 2.0521 percent.

Top-rated German bond yields rose as investors favored riskier assets. The price of 10-year German bonds, viewed as a safe-haven in times of market turmoil, fell and its yield rose 1.5 basis points to 0.485 percent, off the day’s high just above 0.50 percent.

U.S. gold for February delivery fell $1.60 to settle at $1,089.10 an ounce.

(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by James Dalgleish and Nick Zieminski)

Oil reaches lowest price since 2003 as Iran sanctions lifted

(Reuters) – Oil prices slumped to a 2003 low below $28 per barrel on Monday as the market anticipated a rise in Iranian exports after the lifting of sanctions against Tehran over the weekend.

Responding to Tehran’s compliance with a nuclear deal, the United States and major powers revoked international sanctions that had cut Iran’s oil exports by about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) since their pre-sanctions 2011 peak to little more than 1 million bpd.

Iran, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), issued an order on Monday to increase production by 500,000 bpd, the country’s deputy oil minister said.

Worries about Iran’s return to an already oversupplied oil market drove down Brent crude to $27.67 a barrel early on Monday, its lowest since 2003. The benchmark was down 29 cents at $28.64 by 1:50 p.m. ET.

U.S. crude was down 48 cents at $28.94 a barrel, not far from a 2003 low of $28.36 hit earlier in the session. Trading volumes were thin with U.S. markets closed for the Martin Luther King Day holiday.

“You can’t say this was unexpected but the Iran news is an additional factor that’s working against oil prices,” said TD Securities analyst Bart Melek, who also pointed to global oversupply and concerns about demand from China.

He said oil could fall further if Chinese economic data released overnight, including GDP and retail sales data, points to more weakness in the economy.

“If we get nasty economic numbers from China there’s potential for another swoosh lower,” Melek said.

Analysts expect Iran will realistically be able to export an extra 500,000 bpd in the short term from storage, but there are doubts whether the state of Iran’s oil infrastructure will allow further boosts anytime soon.

SEB Markets assumes Iranian oil output will rise by 400,000 bpd to 3.2 million bpd in 2016, while Tehran has said it will add 1 million bpd to its existing output by the year-end.

Iran has at least a dozen Very Large Crude Carrier super-tankers filled and in place to sell into the market.

In a sign of the pain low prices are inflicting on oil producers, OPEC forecast that supply outside the organization would decline by 660,000 bpd in 2016, led by the United States. Last month OPEC predicted a drop of 380,000 bpd.

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghadder in London, Roslan Khasawneh and Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo; Editing by David Goodman, Dale Hudson and Frances Kerry)

Wall Street hemorrhages as oil plunges and China fears deepen

(Reuters) – Wall Street bled on Friday, with the S&P 500 sinking to its lowest level since October 2014 as oil prices sank below $30 per barrel and fears grew about economic trouble in China.

Pain was dealt widely, with the day’s trading volume unusually high and more than a fifth of S&P 500 stocks touching 52-week lows. The major S&P sectors all ended sharply lower. The Russell 2000 small-cap index dropped as much as 3.5 percent to its lowest level since July 2013.

The energy sector dropped 2.87 percent as oil prices fell 6.5 percent, in part due to fears of slow economic growth in China, where major stock indexes also slumped overnight. The energy sector has lost nearly half of its value after hitting record highs in late 2014.

“Initially when oil was down, the convenient line was ‘Well, it’s good for the other nine sectors,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “That tune has changed. Now, it’s a contagion to the other nine sectors. It’s a contagion to Main Street and Wall Street.”

The technology sector was the day’s biggest loser, sliding 3.15 percent as weak quarterly results from chipmaker Intel weighed heavily on chip stocks.

The S&P 500 has fallen about 12 percent from its high in May, pushing it into what is generally considered “correction territory.”

China’s major stock indexes shed over 3 percent, raising questions about Beijing’s ability to halt a sell-off that has now reached 18 percent since the beginning of the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 2.39 percent to end at 15,988.08 points and the S&P 500 fell 2.16 percent to 1,880.29.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 2.74 percent to 4,488.42.

For the week, the Dow fell 2.2 percent, the S&P 500 lost 2.2 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 3.3 percent.

During Friday’s session, the CBOE volatility index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, jumped as much as 29.2 percent to 30.95, its highest level since September.

“Investors are scared to death, and the fact that it’s happening at the beginning of the year has some historical significance,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.

U.S. economic data on Friday was not very encouraging either, with an unexpected drop in retail sales and industrial output declining again in December, underscoring a worsening outlook for fourth-quarter economic growth.

Dow components Exxon and Chevron were down more than 1 percent, while Caterpillar dropped 2.65 percent.

Intel tumbled 9.1 percent, its steepest drop in seven years, after the chipmaker’s results and forecast raised concerns about its growth.

Citigroup fell 6.41 percent, while Wells Fargo dropped 3.59 percent after both reported largely in-line quarterly earnings.

Wynn Resorts was the among the few bright spots, surging 13.34 percent after reporting in-line quarterly revenue.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,591 to 529. On the Nasdaq, 2,377 issues fell and 502 rose.

The S&P 500 index showed no new 52-week highs and 135 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded five new highs and 511 lows.

About 10.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, well above the 7.6 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

(Additional reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar and Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru and Dion Rabouin and David Randall in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Chizu Nomiyama)

Wall Street selloff continues, S&P 500 falls to lowest level in months

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks sank on Wednesday, pushing the S&P 500 to end below 1,900 for the first time since September and extending the year’s sharp selloff, on nervousness over tumbling oil prices and U.S. earnings.

Stocks started the day higher but sentiment turned negative in afternoon trading as a brief rally in beaten-down oil prices stalled.

All 10 S&P 500 sectors ended in the red, with decliners outpacing advancing issues on the NYSE by a ratio of 7.64 to 1 and by 6.35 to 1 on the Nasdaq.

“We’ve been in capital preservation mode since the year began and as the market has shown an inability to rally with any conviction, that’s only increased the level of nervousness and that seemed to have spilled over today in a very significant way,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

The declines ended a two-day rebound for the S&P 500 and resumed the steep selloff that began at the start of the year amid concerns about a slowdown in China and global growth.

The S&P 500 is now down 11.3 percent from its May 21 closing lifetime high, while the Russell 2000 small-cap index dropped 3.3 percent, putting it in bear market territory. The Russell index is down 22 percent from its June 2015 record close.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 364.81 points, or 2.21 percent, to 16,151.41, the S&P 500 had lost 48.4 points, or 2.5 percent, to 1,890.28 and the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 159.85 points, or 3.41 percent, to 4,526.07.

The CBOE Volatility index, Wall Street’s favorite gauge of uncertainty, gained 12.2 percent.

The market has put together 10 intraday rallies at the outset of 2016, and every single one has failed to sustain itself.

Analysts said nervousness about fourth-quarter earnings added to the bearish tone. CSX was down 5.7 percent at $22.35 after the railroad company’s fourth-quarter profit fell on declining freight volumes.

“Today we gapped open again and the buyers retreated. There’s no catalyst to really take it higher. If you start getting bank and other earnings that are really bad, nothing is going to hold,” said Ken Polcari, director of the NYSE floor division at O’Neil Securities in New York.

Amazon fell 5.8 percent to $581.81 and was among the biggest drags on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

About 9.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared with the 7.5 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The S&P 500 posted 2 new 52-week highs and 108 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 7 new highs and 510 new lows.

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Meredith Mazzilli)

Wall Street closes strong; oil briefly dips below $30

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. and European stock investors bought beaten-down shares on Tuesday, at least temporarily looking past another steep drop in oil prices that briefly sent U.S. crude below $30 a barrel.

Major U.S. stock indexes finished strong in a volatile trading session. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index climbed 1.1 percent after four sessions of declines.

Volatile Chinese markets and the deepening oil slide have shaken sentiment in equities at the start of 2016. China stocks closed higher on Tuesday as the central bank tried to stabilize the yuan.

But oil prices slumped more than 2 percent, failing to sustain an initial rally and deepening a 1-1/2-year slide.

Tuesday’s rally may indicate that equity investors are setting aside oil and China as the main factors driving share prices, said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Corp in Chicago.

“As the focus becomes more on the upcoming earnings … the focus turns away from China and oil, it allows investors to redeploy their assets into some equities that look reasonable,” Kuby said.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 117.65 points, or 0.72 percent, to 16,516.22, the S&P 500 gained 15.01 points, or 0.78 percent, to 1,938.68 and the Nasdaq Composite added 47.93 points, or 1.03 percent, to 4,685.92.

Shares of Apple rose 1.5 percent after a broker upgrade, helping prop up Wall Street equities. After historically poor starts to the year for major U.S. indexes, investors were awaiting corporate earnings season to start in earnest later in the week, with large banks due to report.

“We saw a big decline in American markets,” Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial in Waltham, Massachusetts. “Now, we have seen it be pretty much stable. I think at this point perhaps we stabilize unless we see another down leg from China.”

In Europe, solid corporate updates from retailers boosted shares.

MSCI’s broadest gauge of stocks globally rose 0.3 percent after eight straight down sessions.

U.S. crude prices fell as low as $29.93 before settling down 3.1 percent at $30.44 a barrel. Benchmark Brent settled down 2.2 percent at $30.86 a barrel. U.S. crude prices have fallen 17 percent in 2016 alone.

Oil has been dragged lower by a glut, China’s weakening economy and stock market turmoil, as well as the strong dollar, which makes it more expensive for those using other currencies to buy oil.

“The momentum is too strong to the bearish side, even if fundamentally nothing has changed,” said Dominick Chirichella, a senior partner at Energy Management Institute.

The U.S. dollar rose for a third straight session as gains on Wall Street and calmer financial markets enhanced appetite for currencies that offer higher yield.

The dollar rose 0.3 percent against a basket of currencies. The euro slipped 0.06 percent against the dollar.

U.S. Treasury prices rose in choppy trading as oil prices resumed their decline, increasing appetite for safe-haven U.S. government debt.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes rose 13/32 in price to yield 2.112 percent, from 2.158 percent late on Monday.

Spot gold dropped 0.4 percent, falling for a third straight session, but the safe-haven metal pared earlier losses.

(Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Tariro Mzezewa and Catherine Ngai in New York, Jamie McGeever and Simon Falush in London; Editing by Catherine Evans and Nick Zieminski)

Wall Street steadies as oil plunges, China woes deepen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street rallied to finish slightly higher on Monday, steadying after a brutal start to 2016, while beaten-down oil prices plunged further after a fresh tumble for Chinese stocks.

In a volatile session in which U.S. stocks were lower much of the day, the S&P 500 and the Dow rallied to close higher after last week posting their worst-ever five-day starts to the year.

China’s main stock indexes each dropped more than 5 percent on Monday. Oil prices fell to new 12-year lows, as concerns over China hurt commodity prices broadly.

Noting that weak signs out of China and falling oil prices have recently pressured stocks, Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana, said: “You had both those things happen today and the market managed to finish upward.

“The fact that it did hold up for the same reasons that it seemed to go down last week, that’s a victory,” Carlson said. “Today was kind of a nice, perhaps, first brick in the bottom being put in place.”

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 52.12 points, or 0.32 percent, to 16,398.57, the S&P 500 was up 1.64 points, or 0.09 percent, to 1,923.67 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 5.64 points, or 0.12 percent, to 4,637.99. Energy shares led declines, while the healthcare sector fell 1.2 percent as Celgene Corp weighed after posting a disappointing financial outlook.

Investors were looking to U.S. corporate earnings to help provide confidence, with major banks reporting later this week, despite expectations for a second consecutive quarter of overall declining earnings.

“We are going to start to get into earnings season and that is going to begin to be the bigger cue for this market,” Carlson said.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index gave up initial gains and ended down 0.4 percent as commodity shares tracked oil and metals prices lower.

MSCI’s broadest gauge of stocks globally slipped 0.4 percent after registering its biggest weekly decline in more than four years.

Oil prices fell for a sixth straight session to start the new year, as traders cited fears over slowing demand in China.

U.S. crude prices settled down 5.3 percent at $31.41 a barrel, while benchmark Brent dropped 6 percent to $31.55 a barrel.

“The focus is still on China and the demand concerns in China moving forward into 2016,” said Tony Headrick, an energy market analyst at CHS Hedging LLC.

The U.S. dollar was up 0.3 percent against a basket of currencies, while the euro fell 0.7 percent against the dollar.

“Modestly improved risk sentiment was enough to cause the euro to lose some ground against the U.S. dollar,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.

U.S. Treasury yields inched higher in volatile trading. Benchmark 10-year notes were down 12/32 in price to yield 2.1736 percent, from 2.131 percent late on Friday.

Copper prices fell 2.2 percent to 6-1/2-year lows as the Chinese stock declines reinforced worries about demand in the world’s biggest consumer of industrial metals.

Spot gold fell 0.8 percent but still hovered at more than two-month highs.

The 19-market Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity Index sank 2.6 percent to a 13-1/2-year low.

(Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Catherine Ngai and Tariro Mzezewa in New York, Marc Jones and Amanda Cooper in London; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Nick Zieminski and Dan Grebler)