NEW YORK β Wall Street held steady Monday ahead of a week full of reports on some of the marketβs biggest worries, including how stubbornly high inflation remains across the economy.
People pass the front of the New York Stock Exchange on March 21 in New York.
The S&P 500 edged up by 1.87, or less than 0.1%, to 4,138.12 coming off its worst week in nearly two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 55.69 points, or 0.2%, to 33,618.69, while the Nasdaq composite added 21.50, or 0.2%, to 12,256.92.
Besides a strong reading on U.S. jobs, which calmed worries about a possible recession but raised concerns about high inflation, last week was dominated by fears about smaller and mid-sized banks.
PacWest Bancorp rose 3.6% to recover some of its 43% plunge last week. It said on Friday night that itβs cutting its dividend to help it build its financial strength. Several other smaller- and mid-sized banks also rose, including a 0.6% tick higher for Western Alliance Bancorp.
Theyβve been under heavy pressure as Wall Street hunts for the next weak link following three U.S. bank failures since March. Weighed down by much higher interest rates, smaller and mid-sized banks are scrambling to assure Wall Street their deposits are secure and not at threat of seeing a sudden exodus, similar to the runs that toppled Silicon Valley Bank and others.
The larger concern for markets is that all the turmoil could cause banks to pull back on their lending. That in turn could raise the risk of a recession that many investors already see as highly likely.
A report from the Federal Reserve on Monday showed many banks tightened their lending standards during the first three months of the year. Not only that, the survey suggested banks widely expect to raise their standards over the course of 2023. Among the reasons some smaller and mid-sized banks gave for the forecast were wanting to take less risk and worries about deposit outflows.
Weighing down on Wall Street Monday were stocks of companies that turned in worse results for the latest quarter than expected.
Tyson Foods tumbled 16.4% after it reported a loss, instead of the profit that analysts had forecast. Its revenue also fell short of expectations.
So far this earnings reporting season, the trend has been to beat analysts' forecasts. Apple was last week's highlight, and its better-than-expected report helped the market immensely because its stock is Wall Streetβs largest and packs the most weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes.
Six Flags Entertainment jumped 18.6% Monday after it reported a loss that wasn't as bad as analysts expected. It also said attendance was improving.
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