US benchmark equity indexes declined after midday Monday as markets assessed an inflation survey while awaiting official price growth data for November due later in the week. The S&P 500 was down 0.5% at 6,063 intraday, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4% to 19,774.9. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3% to 44,531.2.
Among sectors, communication services experienced the most significant decline, while energy led the gains. Oppenheimer Asset Management projected that the S&P 500 is expected to finish 2025 at a 7,100 level, indicating a potential upside of approximately 17% from Friday's record close, propelled by ongoing economic and consumer resilience. Recent economic data showed a slight increase in US consumers' inflation expectations across various time horizons for November, as revealed by a survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. "Households expressed more optimism about their year-ahead financial situations, while earnings and household income growth expectations both rose in November," the survey noted. Government data set to be released on Wednesday is anticipated to show that US consumer inflation rose by 0.2% sequentially and 2.7% annually last month, based on a consensus compiled by Bloomberg. The official producer prices report for November will be released on Thursday. On Monday, the US 10-year yield increased by 3.3 basis points to 4.19% intraday, while the two-year rate added 2.2 basis points to 4.12%. In company-related news, Comcast reached long-term agreements to distribute Warner Bros.
Discovery content to Xfinity subscribers in the US and Sky customers in the UK and Ireland. Comcast shares saw a decline of 9.3%, marking the steepest drop on the S&P 500 and the second-worst on the Nasdaq, whereas Warner Bros. increased by 1.6%. Advanced Micro Devices shares fell by 5.1% following a downgrade from BofA Securities, shifting its rating from buy to neutral and decreasing its price target from $180 to $155. BofA indicated that AMD's ability to gain market share faces challenges from higher competitive risks in artificial intelligence against Nvidia's dominance and a growing cloud preference for custom chips from Marvell Technology and Broadcom. Mondelez International is reportedly exploring a possible acquisition of Hershey, which has led to Hershey shares surging by 13%, the highest gain on the S&P 500, while Mondelez experienced a minor drop of 1.3%. Enphase Energy announced that owners of Enphase IQ batteries can now join NextEnergy's tariff program in the Netherlands through a new collaboration between the firms.
Enphase shares rose by 7.3%, making it the second-best performer on the S&P 500. Several companies, including Oracle, MongoDB, Casey's General Stores, Toll Brothers, and C3.ai, are slated to report their results following Monday's market close. West Texas Intermediate crude oil saw an increase of 2.1% to $68.58 a barrel intraday. Gold prices rose by 1% to $2,685.50 per troy ounce, while silver jumped 3.2% to $32.59 per ounce..