US, European equities halt at record highs before central bank, jobs data.

Wall Street fell with European peers on Monday, as U.S. Treasury yields rose as investors awaited jobs data and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional appearance.

Bitcoin was being monitored as it approached its first record high since November 2021.

Tech-driven European markets retreated from a record high, while major U.S. equity indexes were slightly lower after Friday's record rally.

Markets were tepid ahead of Powell's two-day congressional appearance, the European Central Bank's policy decision, and the Labor Department's important February jobs report due early Friday.

"Investors are wait-and-see," said Wealthspire Advisors' New York senior vice president Oliver Pursche. "There’s some big economic data coming out later this week and the ECB is expected to make some announcements." "There's nothing out there right now that's going to cause anyone to move in one direction or another with any high conviction," Pursche said.

Powell's testimony and jobs statistics will be examined for clues about the Fed's projected rate decreases this year. Analysts expect 200,000 new jobs and a 3.7% unemployment rate in February.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 90.84 points, or 0.23%, to 38,996.54, the S&P 500 (.SPX) slid 1.56 points, or 0.03%, to 5,135.52, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) sank 24.17 points, or 0.15%, to 16,250.78. After reaching another record high, European shares reversed gains as investors anticipated the European Central Bank's monetary policy meeting later in the week.

MSCI's global stock index (.MIWD00000PUS) rose 0.03% while the pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) fell 0.19%. Emerging market stocks climbed 0.59%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) increased 0.63%, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) rose 0.50%.

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