U.S. stocks are falling as investors try to shake off recession fears

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were trading lower as investors tried to put recession worries behind them.

At  11:00 ET (16:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 15 points, or flat, while the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 1%.

The S&P and Nasdaq each shed 2% last week after the Federal Reserve signaled its intention to keep interest rates higher for longer, and said the policy rate may ultimately exceed expectations. That was fueling concerns the Fed would take a step too far and tip the economy into a recession.

While the Fed’s pace of interest rate increases slowed this month from its prior four meetings, that sets up expectations for continued increases in the new year. The market is betting on a quarter-percentage point increase when the Fed meets in February.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were down 1.3% after CEO Elon Musk put a poll on his Twitter feed asking whether he should step down as CEO of the social media platform. The yesses won 57.5% to 42.5%. Musk has 122 million Twitter followers, and about 17.5 million voted in the poll.

Musk said he would abide by the results of the poll, conducted Sunday through early Monday morning. That could be a relief to some Tesla shareholders who have worried he is distracted by Twitter, as Tesla shares have lost 57% so far this year.

On tap this week in terms of economic data: consumer confidence and housing starts. Later this week, core personal consumption spending for November will be released just before the long holiday weekend.

Shares of L3Harris Technologies Inc (NYSE:LHX) fell 3.7% after it announced plans to buy the hypersonic engine manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc (NYSE:AJRD) for $4.7 billion. Aerojet shares rose 1.6%.

Disney shares fell 3% after the weekend debut of its Avatar: The Way of Water made $134M in box office sales, which is slightly lower than expectations.

Oil rose. Crude Oil WTI Futures were up 0.1% to $74.56 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude rose 0.2% to $79.22 a barrel. Gold Futures were down 0.3% at $1,795.