US open: Stocks get off to soft start with investors waiting on Powell

Wall Street got off to a weak start as investors took some money off the table ahead of a keenly awaited speech from Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, scheduled for the next day.

Investor sentiment may also have been dented by smaller than expected rate cuts out of Beijing overnight and the lack of any announcements of further policy stimulus.

At 1636 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by 0.87% to 33,999.69, alongside a 0.69% fall on the S&P 500.

The Nasdaq Composite meanwhile was down by 0.6% to 13,610.67.

Markets had remained closed on Monday for the Juneteenth holiday.

In the background, in a research note sent to clients, analysts at Berenberg were highlighting how American technology shares had re-rated from a price-to-earnings multiple of 19 last October to 27, putting them at an 85% premium relative to the world equity market.

Other analysts meanwhile noted that it was fairly typical for US stocks to weaken in the week following 'triple witching', which had taken place on 16 June.

In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was slipping by five basis points to 3.72%.

That was despite figures from the Department of Commerce showing that housing starts jumped in May at a 21.7% month-on-month clip, reaching an annual rate of 1.631m (consensus: 1.4m).

Housing permits meanwhile rose by 5.2% during the same month to 1.491m (consensus: 1.425m).

And overnight, the People's Bank of China cut two of its main lending rates by 10 basis points, but that was less than the reduction of at least 15bp that some had forecast, said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

On the corporate front, FedEx was slated to report earnings after the close.

Eli Lilly was was edging up 1% after agreeing to buy Dice Therapeutics in a $2.4bn deal.

Elsewhere, PayPal announced that it will partner with KKR for buy now, pay later loans in Europe.

Boeing shares were trading 3% lower despite announcing a raft of new orders for jets at the Paris Air Show, in what some commentators said was a typical 'buy the rumour, sell the news' reaction.

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $462.79 0.94%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $109.95 0.58%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $212.50 0.35%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $301.30 0.31%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $164.47 0.15%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $185.07 0.08%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $293.84 0.05%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $229.12 -0.24%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $149.15 -0.26%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $35.13 -3.40%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $152.44 -3.06%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $110.22 -2.97%
Boeing Co. (BA) $213.47 -2.96%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $51.62 -2.90%
3M Co. (MMM) $102.02 -2.41%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $330.31 -2.36%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $240.91 -1.78%
American Express Co. (AXP) $169.28 -1.70%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $336.92 -1.58%

S&P 500 - Risers

Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $68.16 2.60%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $106.15 2.33%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $118.60 1.89%
PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $74.67 1.58%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $121.69 1.39%
McKesson Corp. (MCK) $411.16 1.22%
CVS Health Corp (CVS) $68.53 1.20%
Royal Caribbean Cr (RCL) $96.25 1.00%
Western Union Co. (WU) $11.66 1.00%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $462.79 0.94%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Gap Inc. (GPS) $9.10 -5.01%
Borg Warner Inc. (BWA) $46.18 -4.98%
Celanese Corp. (CE) $108.85 -4.52%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $47.68 -4.26%
Zions Bancorporation (ZION) $27.42 -4.23%
Ball Corp (BALL) $56.05 -4.07%
Apache Corp. (APA) $33.00 -4.01%
Under Armour, Inc. (UA) $6.92 -3.89%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $22.61 -3.79%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $34.47 -3.77%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $68.16 2.60%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $106.15 2.33%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $264.92 1.68%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $430.76 0.90%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $434.99 0.70%
Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $81.66 0.57%
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $225.65 0.50%
Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) $73.76 0.26%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $125.78 0.23%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,196.90 0.18%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

JD.com, Inc. (JD) $36.87 -7.48%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $3.74 -4.95%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $35.13 -3.40%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $34.85 -3.21%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $39.23 -3.06%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $16.75 -2.79%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $62.51 -2.78%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $95.78 -2.72%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $119.35 -2.71%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $332.53 -2.55%