London – US stocks fell as commodity shares shadowed a slide in oil, with the Standard & Poor\u2019s 500 Index on track to halt a streak of five weekly gains that had wiped out all its 2016 losses.<\/strong><\/p>\n The S&P 500 fell 0.7% to 2 023.45 at 15:32, on the way toward a 1.3% drop this holiday- shortened week after rising to a 2016 high on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe market is seeing a little bit of a pause in momentum,\u201d said Kevin Caron, a Florham Park, New Jersey-based market strategist and portfolio manager who helps oversee $180bn at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. \u201cNow we\u2019re looking ahead at what drives us beyond what central-bank actions have been able to curry so far. We don\u2019t really have a catalyst right now.\u201d<\/p>\n The S&P 500 rallied as much as 12% from a February 11 low, bolstered by improving economic data, rising crude prices and support from global central-bank policy. There are signs those gains are losing momentum after back-to-back declines in the lightest trading this year and the dollar\u2019s strongest rally since November. US markets will be closed tomorrow for the long Easter weekend.<\/p>\n The main US equity benchmark has still mostly recovered from a worst-ever start to the year spurred by concern over China\u2019s slowdown and a rout in oil. It was down less than 0.5% for the quarter through Wednesday – versus 11% six weeks ago – and is heading for its biggest monthly advance since October. The index is among the top three best performers this year out of developed markets tracked by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n The Federal Reserve last week helped send stocks to 2016 highs after signaling a slower pace of interest-rate increases, amid risks posed by weak growth and market turbulence overseas. The dovish message was tempered this week as some Fed officials suggested a move higher could still come at any meeting, depending on progress in economic data.<\/p>\n Reports today were mixed, with orders for durable goods falling in February for the third time in four months, underscoring lingering softness in US capital investment. Separately, filings for unemployment benefits last week rose less than forecast as the number of dismissals stayed consistent with a firm labor market.<\/p>\n St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said today the central bank could be getting close to raising rates again. In a Bloomberg interview yesterday, Bullard said policy makers should consider lifting rates at their next meeting amid a broadly unchanged economic outlook and prospects of inflation and unemployment exceeding targets.<\/p>\n Traders are pricing in only an 8% chance for an April move and a 39% probability for a boost in borrowing costs at the central bank\u2019s June meeting. Odds for June rose as high as 54% before last week\u2019s gathering amid improving data and the rebound in equities.<\/p>\n Quarterly earnings will also soon be back in focus when Alcoa unofficially kicks off the reporting season on April 11. Profit at S&P 500 companies probably slumped 9.4% in the first three months of the year, according to analysts\u2019 estimates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a pretty substantial rebound across the board, and now there\u2019s the feeling things were getting a bit overdone,\u201d said Steven Santos, a broker at Banco de Investimento Global SA in Lisbon. \u201cMarkets will be vulnerable to declines from here, triggered by expectations that the stronger US economy demands more hikes from the Fed. It\u2019s all about dollar strength, lower commodities and weaker stocks all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" US stocks declines as S&P 500\u2019s rebound loses steam London – US stocks fell as commodity shares shadowed a slide in oil, with the Standard & Poor\u2019s 500 Index on track to halt a streak of five weekly gains that had wiped out all its 2016 losses. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% to 2 023.45 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-te-public"],"yoast_head":"\n