NEW YORK, Feb 6 — Wall Street stocks fell modestly following mixed earnings and an annual presidential address that was seen as breaking little new ground on economic matters.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 25,370.29, down 0.2 per cent.
The broad-based S&P 500 also shed 0.2 per cent to 2,733.54, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.1 per cent at 7,395.74.
President Donald Trump, while touting the health of the US economy during the annual State of the Union Address last night, said his administration's aggressive trade negotiations with Beijing would mean an end to China's alleged "theft" of US jobs and wealth.
On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC the US and China were committed to reaching an agreement by a March 1 deadline when new US tariffs are set to take effect.
But Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said a "lot of vagueness" still clouds the talks.
"The senior players are all coyly dancing around the topic, keeping hope alive but not necessarily making an agreement sound like a slam dunk," O'Hare wrote.
General Motors advanced 1.6 per cent after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings behind strong sales of higher-priced vehicles in the United States and China.
Snap surged 25.8 per cent following its report, while Electronic Arts dived 14.7 per cent. Disney was flat. — AFP
