Stocks dipped lower to start the shortened holiday week in the red at the end of a choppy session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 45 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4% and 1%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Monday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.39% or -15.40 points to 3,949.94
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.13% or -45.41 points to 33,700.28
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -1.09% or -121.55 points to 11,024.51
Renewed fears that China may increase COVID restrictions after reports of a series of deaths from the virus weighed on Wall Street, pulled oil prices and energy stocks lower. West Texas Intermediate crude (NYSE: WTI) crude futures declined 0.4% to about $80 per barrel Monday afternoon.
Bucking the market's trend on Monday, Disney (NYSE: DIS) rose over 6% after the entertainment giant made the surprise announcement that former CEO Bob Iger will return to his former lead position, effective immediately. Ousted former CEO Bob Chapek, who took over in February 2020, has been criticized in the past for his management of the company.
Monday's moves add to a negative week on Wall Street last week, with the S&P 500 falling 0.7% and the Nasdaq dropping 1.6%. The Dow ended last week at a flatline.
This week plans to be pretty quiet heading towards the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, with only minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's November meeting and a handful of corporate earnings reports on the docket. Wall Street will be closed on Thursday for the holiday and trading will end at 1 p.m. on Friday.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) economists wrote in a note over the weekend that it is still possible for the Fed to rein in inflation without triggering a recession--a so-call "soft landing".
"The initial steps along this path have been successful, but there is much further to go in 2023," Goldman economist David Mericle said in a note. "We expect another year of below-potential growth and labor market rebalancing to solve much but not all of the underlying inflation problem. Unlike consensus, we do not expect a recession."
Goldman sees GDP growth of just 1% or so in 2023, alongside a looser labor market and lower wage growth.