Wall Street falls as US crude oil shakes off losses

Wall Street equities deepened losses on Monday while US oil futures reversed course to settle higher on production rumors after starting the day mired in worries that China's strict Covid-19 restrictions would stunt global economic growth.

While a surge in Covid cases and clashes between police and protesters across several major Chinese cities over the weekend helped push US Treasury yields lower, that move had also reversed course in afternoon trading.

"The China protest news was the source of market sentiment souring this morning but we're also coming off a strong few weeks," said Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones, referring to stock trading. The Dow Jones industrial average for example had risen more than 10 per cent in the last month and almost 20 per cent since September.

"Some of this is just a bit of consolidation from the last few weeks," she said, noting that stocks had taken a leg lower when Treasury yields gained and oil prices switched from red to green on Monday as the prospect of higher oil prices brought inflation concerns back to the forefront.

Along with inflation trends, investors are also monitoring Federal Reserve commentary for any clues on its future rate hiking path. While New York Federal Reserve President John Williams declined to say how far and fast he believes the central bank will need to hike rates in coming months he said that it could be 2024 before rates are cut.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 497.57 points, or 1.45 per cent, to 33,849.46, the S&P 500 lost 62.17 points, or 1.54 per cent, to 3,963.95 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 176.86 points, or 1.58 per cent, to 11,049.50.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 1.42 per cent. Emerging market stocks lost 1.13 per cent.

Earlier, US crude oil futures had fallen to December 2021 levels on concerns about demand in China - the world's biggest crude importer.

But the commodity since regained lost ground on speculation ahead of the Dec. 4 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+. In October, OPEC+ agreed to reduce its output target by 2 million barrels per day through 2023.

US crude settled up 1.26 per cent at $77.24 per barrel and Brent settled at $83.19 a barrel, down 0.5 per cent on the day but still well below its trough of the day.

In currencies, the dollar rose against the euro after earlier falling as both US and European policy makers sounded hawkish tones.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Monday hinted at a series of interest rate hikes ahead, saying euro zone inflation has not yet peaked and risks turning out even higher than current expectations.

The dollar index rose 0.339 per cent, with the euro down 0.59 per cent at $1.0334.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.14 per cent versus the greenback at 138.90 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.1951, down 1.17 per cent on the day.

Treasury prices swung around during the session with Fed speakers pushing back on the notion that the US central bank could soon cut interest rates to revive the economy.

Benchmark 10-year notes were down 1.3 basis points at 3.689 per cent, from 3.702 per cent late on Friday.

Earlier, China announced a fifth consecutive day of record new local Covid-19 cases with 40,052 infections on Monday, while in Shanghai demonstrators and police clashed on Sunday night.

Gold prices gave up gains after touching a one-week high of $1,763.70 per ounce. Spot gold dropped 0.9 per cent to $1,740.72 an ounce.