So yesterday the mere hint of conciliation on the trade issues with China made the market momentarily ignore the conflict in Syria and the market zoomed up 428 points.  Today Syria became the main headline again and the Dow fell over 200.  Adding to concerns was the latest Fed statement that generally contradicted the established market thinking that there would be only two more interest rate hikes this year by again just hinting that there might be a third after all due to rising inflation.  And global tensions sent oil up, boosting energy stocks a full percentage point.  Though nothing overtly negative was stated in the Fed minutes, it was taken as negative so the tone of the market remains nervous.  Q1 reporting will make the difference and that begins Friday with expected S&P earnings growth projected in the range of 18.5 percent, the biggest in seven years.  If it fails to hit that ambitious target, will we be seeing another correction?  Volume was below average at 6 billion. 

wed  APRIL 11, 2018 / 6:31 pm

Wall Street falls on Syria concerns, interest rate worries

April Joyner

DJ:  24,189.45  -218.55       NAS:  7,069.03  -25.27         S&P:  2,642.19  -14.68      4/11

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks fell on Wednesday as possible U.S. military action against Syria stoked investor concerns about geopolitical risk to the American economy and minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee sparked worries about a more hawkish view on interest-rate increases.  The decline followed two days of gains, driven by easing concerns about trade tensions between the United States and China. 

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Russia of imminent military action in Syria, declaring missiles “will be coming.”  The rising tensions sent oil prices surging, boosting energy stocks .SPNY 1 percent. But the risk-off sentiment weighed on Treasury yields US10YT=RR, pushing financial stocks .SPSY down 1.3 percent.  “There’s general nervousness about what might happen with any strikes and the potential escalation of tensions with Russia,” said Anwiti Bahuguna, senior portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments in Boston.

The major Wall Street indexes edged even lower after minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee showed concern among a few of its members that rising inflation might require a faster pace of interest rate hikes than anticipated.  Members of the Federal Reserve voted unanimously to raise borrowing costs by a quarter percentage point and expressed confidence that the economy would strengthen and inflation would rise in coming months.  “The minutes were modestly negative,” said John Carey, portfolio manager at Amundi Pioneer Asset Management in Boston. “People had been speculating that due to all the turbulence in the market because of geopolitical uncertainties that the Fed might consider pausing or slowing down the interest rate increases.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 218.55 points, or 0.9 percent, to 24,189.45, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 14.68 points, or 0.55 percent, to 2,642.19 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXICdropped 25.28 points, or 0.36 percent, to 7,069.03. 

Investors said they are looking to earnings season to provide a sustained boost to U.S. stocks. Banks JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) will report quarterly results on Friday.  Analysts expect quarterly profits for S&P 500 companies to rise 18.5 percent from a year ago, which would be the biggest gain in seven years, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. 

Industrial distributor Fastenal (FAST.O) fell 6.2 percent after its earnings missed expectations. The stock was the biggest decliner on the S&P, followed by industry peer WW Grainger’s (GWW.N) 4.4 percent drop. 

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.03-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.06-to-1 ratio favored decliners.  The S&P 500 posted six new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 46 new highs and 27 new lows. 

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.04 billion shares, compared with the 7.29 billion-share average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.