By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Stocks on global indexes were lower on Tuesday following a drop in June U.S. consumer confidence, while oil prices gained for a third day.
The euro weakened after the European Central Bank president offered no fresh insight into the central bank’s policy outlook.
The Conference Board said U.S. consumer confidence fell sharply in June as worries about high inflation left consumers anticipating economic growth would weaken significantly in the second half of the year.
Investors are also still weighing the impact of soaring inflation and an aggressive push by the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to tame inflation.
U.S. Treasury yields rose as investors were pricing in higher rates.
“Most investors are accepting the fact that the economy is going to have a hard landing,” said David Petrosinelli, senior trader at InspereX.
On Wall Street, all three major indexes were lower, with the Nasdaq leading the way down.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 95.4 points, or 0.3%, to 31,342.86, the S&P 500 lost 25.52 points, or 0.65%, to 3,874.59 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 156.56 points, or 1.36%, to 11,368.00.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.23% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.44%.
Earlier, news that China relaxed some COVID-19 quarantine rules helped lift stocks as investors hoped for a revival in global growth.
China slashed the quarantine time for inbound travellers by half in a major easing of one of the world’s strictest COVID-19 curbs, which have deterred cross-border travel and resulted in international flights running at just 2% of pre-pandemic levels.
China’s strict zero-COVID regulations have been a drag on activity in the world’s No. 2 economy, but an easing of travel restrictions and reopening of major cities from lockdowns boost optimism that growth can get back on track.
U.S. crude recently rose 1.38% to $111.08 per barrel and Brent was at $117.50, up 2.09% on the day.
Major oil producers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates looked unlikely to be able to boost output significantly.
In foreign exchange, the dollar index rose 0.452%, with the euro down 0.51% to $1.0529.
Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 4/32 in price to yield 3.2093%, from 3.194% late on Monday.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New YorkAdditional reporting by Samuel Indyk in London and Herbert Lash in New York; Editing by William Maclean and Matthew Lewis)
