* Oil settles down more than $2/barrel despite U.S. sanctions on Iran
* Investors await Nvidia earnings, Warsh speech at Jackson Hold (Updates prices after U.S. market close)
NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 24 (Reuters) – MSCI's global equities gauge lost ground on Monday as weakness in technology stocks offset support from a dip in U.S. Treasury yields and falling oil prices.
Oil prices fell more than $2 per barrel as traders shrugged off U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's announcement of an expansion of secondary sanctions that Washington can impose on entities and countries that maintain business ties with Iran as the U.S. significantly ratchets up economic pressure on Tehran, nearly six months into their war.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields fell following a report that the Treasury Department may tap its cash account to finance increased debt buybacks. In currencies, the Canadian dollar dipped due to a looming U.S. trade war.
While most of the S&P 500's industry sectors finished Monday's session with gains, heavyweight technology led losses among the benchmark's three declining sectors, with a 1.6% drop.
"Today it's a mixed bag. Technology is being dragged down by the overnight news from two key companies, but the rest of the market is reacting positively to lower oil prices and lower bond yields," said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera, El Segundo, California.
In particular, Goldman pointed to Alibaba's launch of a $10.2 billion share sale at a steep discount to fund its AI ambitions. And South Korean shares fell after Samsung Electronics announced a $79 billion shareholder-return plan, a record amount but still smaller than what investors had expected. Earlier, South Korea's KOSPI index finished down more than 3%.
Technology investors were also on edge ahead of Nvidia's quarterly financial report on Wednesday with worries about how hard it will be for the leading AI chipmaker to meet sky-high expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 140.15 points, or 0.26%, to 53,417.16. The S&P 500 fell 21.51 points, or 0.28%, to 7,652.86 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 200.26 points, or 0.76%, to 25,980.19.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 4.58 points, or 0.40%, to 1,145.23.
Earlier in the day, the pan-European STOXX 600 index ended its session little changed at 654.21.
Also coming up this week is Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's first speech at an annual conference in Jackson Hole. The appearance has taken on added weight as traders and analysts look for guidance about the recent jump in bond yields and for reassurance of his independence from the Trump administration.
While traders are pricing in a roughly 58% probability that the Fed will hold rates steady at its September meeting, their bets that rates will not be hiked fall to 43.8% for October and to 25.7% for December, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Bessent said that the U.S. government will continue with its regularly scheduled debt auctions, including for long-dated bonds, despite its move to increase buyback sizes of 10- to 30-year securities.
