NEW YORK, Nov 12 — Wall Street’s main indexes fell yesterday, as prospects of a quick resolution to the US-China trade war dimmed following comments from President Donald Trump, while escalating violence in Hong Kong added to the downbeat sentiment.
Hopes of a “phase one” trade deal and largely upbeat corporate earnings sparked a rally that helped the three major stock indexes close at record highs on Friday.
Trump said on Saturday that the United States would only make a deal if it was the “right deal” for America, adding that the talks had moved more slowly than he would have liked.
Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, with the energy sector the biggest decliner.
Healthcare shares fell 0.53 per cent and weighed the most on the benchmark index, while the communication services sector and consumer discretionary were among the biggest drags.
Trade-sensitive technology shares and industrials were also lower.
Continuing violence in Hong Kong hit sentiment after police shot and wounded a protester in the 24th straight week of pro-democracy unrest in the Chinese-ruled territory.
“The protests in Hong Kong seem to be increasing the worries of a trade deal, but I think its just an excuse to take some money off the table,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
“We have been quite strong at those market highs last week, so it’s just a minor pull back, and I don’t think it’s going to be enduring.”
The third-quarter earnings season, which is drawing to a close has been better-than-expected for the most part, with nearly three quarters of the 446 S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far topping profit estimates, according to Refinitiv data.
Attention now shifts to economic data and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony later this week, while a handful of big companies including Walmart Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and Nvidia Corp will also report earnings.
At 11:34 am ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 120.91 points, or 0.44 per cent, at 27,560.33, the S&P 500 was down 11.16 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 3,081.92. The Nasdaq Composite was down 24.96 points, or 0.29 per cent, at 8,450.35.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc jumped 5.6 per cent after Bloomberg reported KKR & Co had formally approached the drugstore giant for what could be the biggest-ever leveraged buyout.
Among other stocks, Qualcomm Inc fell 2.2 per cent after Morgan Stanley downgraded the chipmaker to “equal-weight” from “overweight”.
Shares of Cisco dropped 1.1 per cent as Piper Jaffray downgraded the network gear maker to “neutral” from “overweight”.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.65-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.62-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 14 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 41 new highs and 59 new lows.
The Treasury market was closed yesterday for the Veterans Day holiday. — Reuters
