Wall Street indexes fell on Thursday as an unexpected rise in retail sales pointed to resilience in the economic recovery, boosting yields and a broader move from heavyweight technology stocks.
Financially sensitive sectors outperformed their peers, with financial stocks falling 0.2% — the lowest among S&P sectors. An index of transportation stocks — a common gauge of economic optimism — added 0.2%.
The energy sector fell 1.4% after a recent rally as crude oil prices retreated due to the dwindling threat of US Gulf crude production from Hurricane Nicholas.
Losses were dominated by tech stocks as positive economic data propelled Treasury yields and eased some concerns over slower growth.
Chief market strategist Art Hogan said, “Tech was the outperformer for most of August, and as we go into September and see more of a normalization on the 10-year yield, what will lead to an exit from tech.” Is.” at National Securities in New York.
“Mega-cap technology names are well agnostic about the pace of economic growth … for cyclical.”
The strong data lifted the dollar as well, impacting commodity prices and a 1.3% decline in the materials sector.
The stock has struggled to maintain a record high earlier this month due to seasonally weak trends in September, as well as concerns that the economic recovery could lose steam towards the end of the year.
Data from earlier in the day showed the labor market remained under pressure, with initial jobless claims slightly higher than last week.
But strong recent economic readings have prompted analysts to speculate whether the Federal Reserve will step up its plans to ease stimulus. The Fed is widely expected to pat at its next week’s meeting.
At 11:57 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 196.47 points, or 0.56%, to 34,617.92, the S&P 500 fell 27.65 points, or 0.62%, to 4,453.05, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 83.43 points, or 0.55%, to 15,078.09. .
US-listed Chinese stocks extended losses, coming in the form of Beijing’s regulatory overhaul of gambling in Macau as the latest trigger for a sell-off in a sector that is already worth billions of dollars due to crackdowns on technology and education services. has done damage.
US-based casino operators Las Vegas Sands Corp and Wynn Resorts Ltd fell more than 3% each.
A batch of weak Chinese economic data as well as concerns over the debt crisis at the country’s No. 2 property developer have also dampened appetite for stocks facing China in recent sessions.
Among other movers, electric car maker Tesla Inc. fell 0.7% after a fund run by Kathy Wood’s ARK Invest sold nearly $128 million worth of shares of the firm over the past two days.
The number of advances issues declined in excess of a 1.9-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.5-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 6 new 52-week highs and a new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 67 new highs and 96 new lows.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.
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