A retreat in crude-oil prices also weighed on the broader market, dragging shares of oil and gas companies into the red.
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The Dow Jones industrial average fell 14.21 points, or 0.08%, to 18,538.36, the S&P 500 lost 1.42 points, or 0.07%, to 2,182.45 and the Nasdaq Composite added 3.19 points, or 0.06%, to 5,241.57. The energy sector sank 0.9%, marking the worst decline among the large-cap benchmark’s 10 sectors.
The dollar was last up 0.06 percent against the yen at 100.26 yen JPY=. Visa Inc.(V) shares were the best performer among blue chips.
Spot gold was last at $1,337.00-1,337.35 per ounce, down $0.72 from the previous day’s close.
Stocks mostly traded in a narrow range during the session.
The whole world seems to have hushed ahead of comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen at the central bank’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole on Friday.
More broadly, markets are awaiting policy details from the U.S. Fed this week when its officials bankers gather at Jackson Hole. That may imply that the trend we’ve seen towards lower interest rates in the U.S., Europe and Japan will spread elsewhere. Equity investors will come flocking too, attracted by lower valuations and less anxious about a potential shock due to a rapid rise in interest rates.
Federal funds futures on Monday afternoon suggested traders saw a probability of just under 50 percent that the Fed will hike rates this year, according to data from CME Group’s FedWatch program.
Comments from vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve, Stanley Fischer, that US GDP growth would pick up in coming quarters added to the unease among gold bugs.
“Today is the epitome of the dog days of summer”.
Weakness in oil futures appeared to set the tone for equities in early action. The Brent crude oil price was last at $48.53 per barrel, down 1.12 percent and the Texas light sweet crude dipped 1.52 percent to $46.65 so far on Tuesday. However, analysts have previously said the chances of suppliers, particularly members of OPEC, agreeing on a deal were limited.
Copper three-month futures on the London Metal Exchange hovered near six-week lows, and share prices of mining companies on Australia’s benchmark index rose.
In company news, shares of Japanese semiconductor maker Renesas Electronics (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6723.T-JP) dropped 5.21 percent on Tuesday, following a Reuters report, citing sources familiar with the matter, that said the company was nearing an expected $3 billion acquisition of USA chipmaker Intersil (ISIL). Pfizer’s stock slid 0.4%, while Medivation jumped 20%.
In other deal news, ChemChina said Monday that a USA national-security regulator had cleared its planned $43 billion acquisition (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chemchina-gets-us-security-clearance-for-43-billion-syngenta-takeover-2016-08-22) of Swiss seed company Syngenta AG (SYNN.EB)(SYNN.EB). Intersil also surged after a person familiar with matter said the chipmaker is in talks to be acquired by Japan’s Renesas Electronics for about $3 billion. Clearly, the US Federal Reserve is at a different juncture than its European, UK and Japanese counterparts. Shares of Valeant are up almost 40% so far in August.
Ailing drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.
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-Victor Reklaitis contributed to this article.
