US stocks have ended little changed as investors took a breather after last week’s hefty gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.45 points (0.05 per cent) to 15,392.20.
The broad-based S&P 500 increased 0.16 (0.01 per cent) to 1,744.66 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tacked on 5.77 (0.15 per cent) at 3,920.05.
Monday’s tepid performance came on the heels of last week’s rally following a US budget deal late Wednesday that ended a partial government shutdown and an agreement on the debt ceiling that averted a default. All three stock indices ended the week solidly higher, with the S&P 500 notching a new record.
“Obviously, the market has made some nice gains,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. Stocks “will probably pull back a little bit from an overbought situation”.
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Cardillo said that so far the quarter’s earnings reports have exceeded expectations, but he cautioned that revenue growth remained weak.
Investors are looking ahead to Tuesday’s release of September jobs data, which had been delayed from October 4 due to the partial government shutdown.
The Australian dollar is slightly lower.
Early Tuesday, the local unit was trading at 96.57 US cents, down from 96.73 cents on Monday.
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Since 1700 AEDT on Monday, the Australian dollar has traded between 96.43 and 96.81 US cents.
OM Financial senior client adviser Stuart Ive says currency markets have slowed ahead of the jobs figures.
“The US dollar made a bit of ground overnight, the Aussie dollar is just taking a bit of a pause,” he said.
“Everyone is on hold for the non-farm payrolls. That is the main feature we’re waiting for.
“It’s a little bit of a mixed bag at the moment and that’s why the Aussie is only a touch down.”
The median market forecast is for employment growth of 180,000 in the US in September, which would be better than the gain of 169,00 in August.
Ive said he expects the Australian dollar to trade in a fairly tight range ahead of the employment data.
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