S&P 500 Cuts Some Losses but Sluggish Energy, Financials Weigh

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Investing.com – The S&P 500 cut some losses Monday, but was kept in check by falling energy stocks on volatile oil prices after traffic resumed in the Suez Canal, while bank stocks slipped on fears of exposure following the reported liquidation of Archegos Capital.

The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.46%, or 151 points, the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.41%, but had been down more than 1%.

Energy led the broader market lower, down nearly 2% even as oil prices rebounded from lows amid easing expectations of supply disruptions after the container ship that had blocked traffic at the Suez Canal had been refloated, paving the way for traffic on the key trading route to resume.

APA (NASDAQ:APA), Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) were among the biggest decliners, falling more than 2%.

Chinese big tech and U.S. media remained under pressure after New York City-based Archegos Capital Management was reportedly forced to sell more than $20 billion worth of shares in margin call on Friday.

Banks tied to the Archegos saga fell, dragging the broader financials into the red, including Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Citigroup (NYSE:C).

Nomura warned of  a “significant” loss of up $2 billion, while Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) warned the loss could be “highly significant” on first-quarter results.

Tencent Music Entertainment (NYSE:TME), Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Discovery (NASDAQ:DISCA) and ViacomCBS (NASDAQ:VIAC) were lower.

Losses in industrials were kept in check by a rise in Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) after Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) agreed to buy 100 of the aircraft maker’s 737 Max 7 planes.

Tech stocks, meanwhile, cut some losses even as U.S. bond yields ticked higher, with United States 10-Year rate topping 1.7%.

The so-called Fab 5 tech stocks were mostly in the green. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was below the flatline, while Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) were higher.

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