The three major US stock indexes closed lower on Thursday as investors waited for fourth-quarter corporate earnings and details of US President-elect Donald Trump’s economic policy eight days ahead of his inauguration.
While stocks pared losses as the session wore on, all but four of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors ended lower, with financials leading the decline a day ahead of the first major earnings reports in that sector. The S&P had risen 6.4 per cent since the November 8 election.
Trump had on Wednesday dashed investor hopes for new details on his policy plans in his first news conference since the election, instead lashing out at US spy agencies and media companies for what he called a “phony” Russia dossier and repeated promises to reform healthcare policies.
On top of policy uncertainty, the market is missing stock buyback support in the quiet period ahead of earnings and individuals are putting more money into bonds than stocks, according to Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investmentstrategist at Charles Schwab in Boston.
“Companies can’t buy shares, and individuals all of a sudden stopped buying since the election. That could be the reason we’re seeing a little bit of a gap down today,” said Kleintop, but the dip could be temporary if earnings beat expectations.
Kleintop cited Investment Company Institute’s data on Wednesday showing the biggest cash flows to bond funds from stock funds since the election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 63.28 points, or 0.32 per cent, to close at 19,891, the S&P 500 dropped 4.88 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 2,270.44 and the Nasda qComposite dipped 16.16 points, or 0.29 per cent, to5,547.49.
The S&P had fallen as much as 0.9 per cent earlier in the session, and its financial index finished off 0.74 per cent, as yields on long-dated bonds fell.
Brad McMillan, Chief Investment Officer for Commonwealth Financial in Waltham, Mass. said the stock market's continued proximity to its post-election peak was a positive sign.
“The fact we’re still bouncing along the ceiling means to me that everybody’s still pretty optimistic,” said McMillan.
“The population is confident. They’re willing to spend and they’re making more money and able to spend. That's good news,’’ he said.
The S&P’s healthcare sector ended up 0.07 per cent after tumbling 1 per cent in the previous daý’s session because of Trump’s comments.
The index was helped by a 0.9 per cent increase for Merck and a 2.5 per cent increase for Eli Lilly after a US appeals court said it could block Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd from selling a generic equivalent of Eli Lilly’s top-selling lung cancer drug.
JPMorgan Chase was one of the biggest drags on the S&P 500 the day before its earnings report was due, losing nearly 1 per cent.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a1.55-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.96-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and four new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 60 new highs and 21 new lows.
More than 6.7 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, higher than the 6.5 billion average in the last 20 sessions.