WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving sharply lower early in the session on Monday, stocks showed a significant recovery attempt over the course of the trading day. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day but still closed in negative territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 146.62 points or 0.6 percent at 26,18641 after tumbling by as much as 1.3 percent early in the day. The S&P 500 also fell 37.00 points or 0.5 percent to 7,619.98, while the Dow dipped 152.09 points or 0.3 percent at 52,421.20.
The performance on Wall Street largely reflected a reaction to the direction of crude oil prices, which surged early in the session before giving back ground.
After soaring nearly 5 percent early in the day, the price of crude oil for October delivery was last seen trading up by a still notable 1.8 percent.
The pullback by the price of crude oil may have reflected President Donald Trump's claim on Truth Social that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to stop attacking each other's energy targets.
Trump also reiterated his claims that Iran wants to 'make a deal, quickly and badly' and that 'oil is flowing through the Hormuz Strait.'
Crude oil prices spiked early in the day amid renewed supply concerns after Saudi Arabia closed a critical pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz following a drone attack.
News that a planned meeting in Oman between Iran and Gulf states over reopening the Strait of Hormuz has been postponed also contributed to the increase in the price of crude oil.
Selling pressure in the tech sector was also generated amid renewed worries about artificial intelligence after industry leaders called for a slowdown in the pace of AI development.
'We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain,' Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote in a blog post.
'The measures I propose to advance the frontier at a safe pace will not be easy,' he added. 'But I believe we owe it to humanity to try.'
Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy decision later this week.
With oil prices surging and recent data pointing to sticky inflation, CME Group's FedWatch tool is currently indicating a nearly 90 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by a quarter point.
Sector News
Despite the recovery attempt by the broader markets, semiconductor stocks still showed a substantial move to the downside, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 5.9 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month.
Significant weakness also remained visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 4.8 percent plunge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.
Oil service stocks also moved sharply lower on the day, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index tumbling by 4.0 percent.
Networking, gold and banking stocks also saw considerable weakness, while software stocks moved sharply higher, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index up by 3.3 percent.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.8 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, most European stocks moved to the downside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index declined by 0.8 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and rose by 0.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries showed a notable turnaround over the course of the session after seeing early weakness. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 1.4 basis points to 4.961 percent.
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