12:23 PM EST, 11/04/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes declined as government bond yields dropped and the dollar depreciated after an influential poll called into question growing expectations for former President Donald Trump's return to The White House.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,710.5 after midday Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.7% lower at 41,773.2. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.3% at 18,179.4. Energy was the top gainer intraday while the utilities sector led the decliners.
The US Dollar index dropped 0.5% to 103.8 by early Monday afternoon, giving up some gains from the Trump trade. Similarly, most US Treasury yields declined intraday, with the 10-year down seven basis points to 4.29% and the two-year rate 4.7 basis points lower at 4.16%. A "highly anticipated" Selzer De Moines Register Iowa poll released Saturday showed Vice President Kamala Harris with a three-point lead in a state where polling averages have Trump nine points ahead, a note from Deutsche Bank said.
"Many political commentators had been waiting for this poll as it has one of the best track records amongst pollsters, with FiveThirtyEight describing Selzer as 'the best pollster in politics'," Jim Reid, the head of the global fundamental credit strategy at Deutsche Bank, said in the note.
Meanwhile, in economic news, new orders for US factory goods fell 0.5% in September, as expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg, and after a revised 0.8% decrease in August. Excluding a 3.1% drop in transportation orders, new orders would have been 0.1% higher after a 0.2% decline in August.
In company news, Nvidia's ( NVDA ) shares rose 1.8% after S&P Dow Jones Indices said Nvidia ( NVDA ) will replace Intel ( INTC ) in the Dow Jones Industrial Average effective Friday. Shares of Intel ( INTC ) slumped 4.4% intraday, among the worst performers on the Dow, the Nasdaq, and the S&P 500.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped 2.5% to $71.25 a barrel.