Wall Street indexes fall 1%; investors brace for jobs data, Nvidia results

U.S. stocks were about 1% lower on Monday as investors considered the health of the consumer ahead of quarterly results from retailers this week and a long-delayed U.S. jobs report, while they also braced for earnings from Nvidia later this week.

Losses accelerated in afternoon trading, with the S&P 500 trading below its 50-day moving average, a key technical marker, and on track to close below that level for the first time in months.

Results this week from retail giants Walmart, Home Depot and Target will round out the quarterly earnings season.

Shares of Home Depot, due to report on Tuesday before the bell, were down 1.1%.

Investors eagerly awaited the September jobs report, which is due to be released on Thursday after the long U.S. government shutdown ended last week.

Investors are waiting for two big things: “a look at the consumer ... and Nvidia’s earnings,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York, noting that “you have a consumer that is potentially getting weaker, not stronger.”

Also, he said, “we have got the market consolidating a very big rally from the April low.”

Nvidia, the world’s largest company by market value, which is at the heart of Wall Street’s artificial intelligence trade, is due to report after the bell on Wednesday. Its shares were down 2.6% on Monday and were the biggest drag on the Nasdaq and S&P 500.

Stocks have been pressured this month by concerns that AI exuberance has driven up valuations to expensive levels.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 475.06 points, or 1.01%, to 46,675.00, the S&P 500 lost 65.25 points, or 0.97%, to 6,668.98 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 237.41 points, or 1.03%, to 22,663.18.

Among the day’s gainers, Google parent Alphabet rose 3% to a record high after Berkshire Hathaway revealed a stake of $4.3 billion in the company.

Berkshire also further reduced its stake in Apple, whose shares were down 1.9% on Monday afternoon.

Among other declining shares, Dell Technologies dropped 9.4% after Morgan Stanley double-downgraded its rating on the AI server maker to “underweight” from “overweight.”

Investors also digested views on the outlook for stocks next year. Brokerage Morgan Stanley expects U.S. stocks to outperform peers next year and prefers global equities over credit and government bonds.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 3.13-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 81 new highs and 208 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 1,300 stocks rose and 3,300 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.54-to-1 ratio.

U.S. packaging company Sealed Air Corp said on Monday it agreed to be bought by private equity firm CD&R for $10.3 billion, including debt, in a deal that will take the company off the stock market.

Under the agreement, Sealed Air shareholders will receive $42.15 in cash per share, a nearly 13% premium to its closing price on November 11.

Sealed Air, which was founded in 1957 as an experiment in interior design, is best known for its protective packaging material, Bubble Wrap.