Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed lower for the second straight day, as investors ditched risker assets, piling into safe havens ahead of key events later this week that could spark turmoil in markets.
In what a quiet day for top tier economic data release, investors focused on key events later this week, shifting sentiment to safe havens, which pressured equities, as all three of the main U.S. indexes ended the day in negative.
Uncertainty over the outcome of the UK election and of former FBI chief James Comey’s testimony to the Senate later this week, dampened demand for risker assets as demand grew for safe havens, such as the yen, U.S. treasuries and gold.
Treasury yields dropped to their lowest level since Donald Trump was elected U.S. president, with the U.S. 10-Year falling 1.52% to 2.147, as investors questioned whether the recent bout of weak economic data would deter the Federal Reserve from its view that two additional rate hikes this year are appropriate.
U.S. manufacturing activity in May grew at a slower pace, while data from the U.S. Labor Department last Friday showed that the economy created far fewer jobs than expected.
In corporate news, shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) pared most the losses sustained in the previous session, resulting from an analyst downgrade in the stock to sector weight from overweight.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 21,136.23. The S&P 500 lost 0.28% while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6275.06, down 0.33%
The ‘Bulls and Bears’ on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) up 1.4%, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) up 0.9%, while UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) rose 0.8%.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) down 1.7%, Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) down 1.2% and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) down 1.1%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.