U.S. stock indexes were on track to drift lower Tuesday morning, a day after an attack on major oil-processing facilities in Saudi Arabia sparked sparked fears over oil supplies, driving domestic crude futures to the sharpest single-session rally since the 2008 financial crisis.
On Monday, the Dow DJIA, -0.52% fell 142.7 points, or 0.5%, to close at 27,076.82, ending an eight-day winning streak. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.31% shed 9.43 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 2,997.96, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.28% dropped 23.17 points, or 0.3%, to end at 8,153.54. The events have increased testiness between Iran and the U.S., with Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying that he will not negotiate with the U.S., which has maintained sanctions against Tehran since pulling out of a global nuclear pact citing noncompliance months ago.
The People’s Bank of China, meanwhile, has kept its one-year bank lending facility unchanged at 3.3%, but the central bank is expected to step up stimulus on Friday by guiding benchmark rates for new loans lower, Reuters reports. “Yesterday brought about the ‘Shot across the bow’ with regards to Stock and bond yield declines after nearly 3 weeks of uninterrupted progress,” Newton wrote in a Tuesday research note.