US STOCKS-Tech, megacaps drag Wall St down at start of big market week

By Lewis Krauskopf, Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian

NEW YORK, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Major U.S. stock indexes
sank on Monday, weighed down by declines in technology and other
megacap shares, as investors looked toward a major week of
events including central bank meetings and a slew of earnings
reports.

The heavyweight tech sector was among the biggest
S&P 500 sector decliners on the day. Shares of Apple Inc
, Amazon.com Inc and Google parent Alphabet Inc
, which are due to post results later this week, all
slumped.

More than 100 S&P 500 companies are expected to report
results this week, which also includes central bank meetings in
the United States and Europe and closely watched U.S. employment
data.

“The market has had a big run and the trading is a bit more
cautious heading into a week which likely will be an inflection
point for the overall market,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief
investment officer at Truist Advisory Services.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 52.38
points, or 1.29%, to end at 4,018.18 points, while the Nasdaq
Composite lost 227.89 points, or 1.96%, to 11,393.81.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 254.47 points, or
0.75%, to 33,723.61.

Despite Monday’s declines, the S&P 500 was on track to post
its biggest January gain since 2019.

The U.S. central bank is seen hiking the Fed funds rate by
25 basis points at the end of its two-day policy meeting on
Wednesday, following a 2022 in which the Fed aggressively
boosted rates to control soaring inflation.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s news conference will be
scrutinized for whether the rate-hiking cycle may be coming to a
close and for signs of how rates could stay elevated.

“It’s probably one of the most important meetings since the
whole thing began,” said Sameer Samana, senior global market
strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “Unless the Fed
extends that timeline meaningfully from what the market expects,
which is that the Fed will be done in the next meeting or two,
this may end up marking the pause, so to speak.”

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is expected to deliver
another large rate hike on Thursday.

Investors are also focused on earnings reports, amid
concerns the economy may be facing a recession. With more than
140 companies having reported so far, S&P 500 earnings are
expected to have fallen 3% in the fourth quarter compared with
the prior-year period, according to Refinitiv IBES.

In company news, shares of Johnson & Johnson fell
after the healthcare giant’s strategy to use bankruptcy to
resolve the multibillion-dollar litigation over claims its talc
products cause cancer was rejected by a federal appeals court.
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, and Shreyashi Sanyal
and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru
Editing by Anil D’Silva and Matthew Lewis)