US close: US stocks gravitate lower as Apple falls

US stocks generally failed to follow the solid gains in London, Europe and Asia, as well as a solid report from the regional economic assessment of the Federal Reserve's 'Beige Book'.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by a very modest 0.06% to 17,078 though both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices slipped backwards, falling 0.55% and 0.06%.

This was despite encouraging diplomatic efforts from Russia and Ukraine, which agreed a "mutual understanding" to help move towards a peaceful resulution of the conflict in the region.

Further good news for the US specifically came from the release of the Fed's Beige Book showing continued broad-based expansion.

All 12 districts posting further growth, though "none of the districts pointed to a distinct shift in the overall pace of growth", the report said.

Economists at Barclays said the reports was modestly encouraging. "Taken together, this report is consistent with our expectation of continued moderate economic growth and further tightening in labor markets."

Another boost was that US auto sales surged to an eight-year high of 17.5m in August, according to Autodata, up from 16.4m in July and above consensus estimates of 16.6m.

As the highest level of auto sales since January 2006, economists suggested this meant real consumer spending had rebounded in August after its July decline.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fared worst of the indices, dragged lower by Apple as the hardware company's followers were spooked rival Samsung teaming up with Facebook's Oculus to launch a virtual reality-connected wearable device.

Apple shares fell 4.2% to $98.94 as investors wondered whether the wind could be taken out of Apple's imminent iPhone 6 launch.

Online retailer Amazon.com declined after saying that its chief financial officer will retire next summer.

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