By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks finished near the unchanged mark on Monday with market sentiment weakened by the downgrade of the federal government’s perfect sovereign credit rating owing to its huge debt profile.
Moody’s slashed the U.S. sovereign credit rating to “Aa1” from “Aaa” after markets closed on Friday, citing the government’s $36 trillion outstanding debt and interest.
“It is to be understood that markets were going to have a little bit of reaction because the (Moody’s) announcement was after markets closed,” said Talley Leger, chief market strategist at The Wealth Consulting Group. “But my view is that the ‘sell-America’ trade is overdone.”
Equities had rebounded from declines earlier in the session to finish near the unchanged mark. Still, the benchmark S&P 500 notched its sixth straight sessions of gains.
Seven out of the 11 S&P sectors advanced led by healthcare, consumer staples, industrials, materials and utilities stocks.
Energy stocks were the biggest losers in addition to consumer discretionary.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 137.33 points, or 0.32%, to 42,792.07, the S&P 500 gained 5.22 points, or 0.09%, to 5,963.60 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 4.36 points, or 0.02%, to 19,215.46.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields gained on concerns that a U.S. tax bill will increase the debt load by more than previously expected. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 1 basis point to 4.449%.
President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut bill had won approval from a key congressional committee on Sunday.
TXNM Energy rose 7% after the utility said it would be acquired by the infrastructure unit of Blackstone in an $11.5-billion deal.
Novavax shares jumped 15% after the company secured a long-awaited U.S. regulatory approval for its COVID-19 vaccine.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals rose 0.4% after it announced it will buy genomics firm 23andMe Holdings for $256 million through a bankruptcy auction.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 216 new highs and 50 new lows on the NYSE.
The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 57 new highs and 57 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 19.41 billion shares, compared with the 17.34 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Kanchana Chakravarty in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K, Pooja Desai and Aurora Ellis)
