Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, February 17, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
The S&P 500 was little changed Monday following back-to-back weekly losses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500, as traders assessed ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.
The broader index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.17%.
The S&P 500 and Dow lost 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively, last week, with the Dow falling for five sessions in a row. The S&P 500’s two-week losing streak is its first since February amid worries about a recession and lack of debt ceiling talk progress.
“It’s kind of a waiting game,” said Globalt Investments’ Keith Buchanan. “Each day that goes by, and each postponement, each day there’s not a development … I think it will grow more and more difficult for the markets to really get any traction.”
However, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hinted over the weekend that the U.S. would avoid a default.
“I’m hopeful. I think the negotiations are very active. I’m told they have found some areas of agreement,” said Yellen in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Saturday from Japan during a meeting of G-7 finance ministers.
Yellen told CNBC last week that failure to hatch an agreement on the debt ceiling would “produce financial chaos” with the Treasury currently giving June 1 as the date when it could fail to meet its obligations. President Joe Biden is expected to host top Congressional leaders on Tuesday for debt ceiling talks.
On Monday, investors digested the May data for Empire State Manufacturing survey, which showed a collapse in manufacturing activity in New York. The survey fell 43 points from April to a reading of -31.8, below the Dow Jones estimate of -5.
