(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* U.S. yield curve inversion hits risk appetite
* Energy shares mirror gains in oil prices
* Autodesk drops after FY earnings forecast cut
* Dow up 0.08%, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq down 0.28%
(Updates to open)
By Akanksha Rana
Aug 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street treaded water on Wednesday
after moves in the U.S. bond market brought back fears of a
recession as a bruising U.S.-China trade war drags on, while a
rise in energy shares offered support.
U.S. stocks opened lower in the session, tracking losses
from Tuesday, as a key part of the U.S. yield curve, closely
watched for signs on economic downturn, inverted to levels not
seen since 2007. US/
The inversion continued to deepen, with the yield on the
30-year government bonds US30YT=RR hovering just above its
record low set earlier in the session.
"Each time (the yield curve) inverts, people get a little
uncomfortable," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading
and derivatives for Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) in Austin, Texas.
"But for it to be a true sign of an impending recession, it
has to invert and stay inverted. We have not seen that yet."
In a bright spot, the S&P 500 energy sector .SPNY jumped
1%, tracking gains in oil prices, which rose after industry data
showed a fall in stockpiles of U.S. crude. O/R
The recent bout of selloff has dragged the benchmark S&P 500
.SPX 5.5% away from a record high hit in late July.
Markets have been roiled by the trade war, which worsened
last week after Beijing announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S.
goods.
Investors are also awaiting the monthly jobs report and
manufacturing data next week to gauge the pace of interest rate
cuts.
At 10:01 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 19.53 points, or 0.08%, at 25,797.43, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 0.36 points, or 0.01%, at 2,869.52. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was down 21.71 points, or 0.28%, at 7,805.23.
Among those left most vulnerable to the bitter trade
relations between the United States and China were technology
stocks .SPLRCT , which slipped 0.77%. Hurting the sector the
most were declines in shares of Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and
Autodesk Inc ADSK.O .
Autodesk shares slumped 11.7%, the most on the S&P 500,
after the AutoCAD software maker cut its full-year earnings
forecast.
Coty Inc COTY.N rose 4.8% after the cosmetics maker raised
its full-year revenue forecast, betting on a multi-year
turnaround plan that involves increased investments in
advertising and cost cuts. Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE.N added 3%
after the company beat profit estimates and raised its 2019
adjusted earnings forecast. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.41-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded five new 52-week highs and 38 new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded nine new highs and 118 new lows.