Investing.com – Wall Street faltered near record highs and traded slightly lower on Monday as disappointing macro data gave little reason for bulls to push stocks higher.
At 11:32AM ET (15:32GMT), the Dow Jones slipped 8 points, or 0.04%, the S&P 500 lost 3 points, or 0.12%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded down 10 points, or 0.16%.
The three major U.S. indices all closed at record highs on Friday but took a pause after a string of economic reports dampened sentiment.
ISM non-manufacturing data for May fell slightly more than expected, disappointing consensus even though the report noted that “the majority of respondents’ comments continue to indicate optimism about business conditions and the overall economy.”
Factory orders for April settled in line, but still offered little encouragement with their first decline in five months.
A slump in oil prices, falling more than 1%, also put a damper on risk appetite as market players digested the fact that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed their ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of supporting terrorism, in an unprecedented breach between the most powerful members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The coordinated move dramatically escalates a dispute over Qatar's support of the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist movement, and adds accusations that Doha even backs the agenda of regional arch-rival Iran.
Investors appeared concerned over how the falling out might affect the resolve of the agreement to reduce oil output, even while U.S. shale production continued to escalate.
Data from energy services company Baker Hughes showed late Friday that U.S. drillers added rigs for the 20th week in a row, the longest such streak on record, implying that further gains in domestic production are ahead.
The U.S. rig count rose by 11 to 733, extending a year-long drilling recovery to the highest level since April 2015.
U.S. crude futures fell 1.28% to $47.05 by 11:33AM ET (15:33GMT), while Brent oil sank 1.52% to $49.19.
In company news, investors looked ahead to Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) Worldwide Developers Conference with chief executive Tim Cook set to kick off the event at 1:00PM ET (17:00GMT).
Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) tumbled more than 6% Monday as the firm cut its sales guidance.
In M&A activity, DR Horton (NYSE:DHI) offered to buy 75% of real estate development company Forestar Group (NYSE:FOR). The U.S. homebuilder's offer of $16.25 per share tops a $14.25 bid by Starwood Capital Group.
U.S. private equity group Blackstone (NYSE:BX) said it would acquire the Finnish real estate investment firm Sponda (HE:SDA1V) for about €1.8 billion ($2.0 billion).