US close: Markets turn red as White House blusters over wall

Wall Street stumbled through its Wednesday session, amid mixed economic data and after president Donald Trump appeared to threaten a shutdown of the federal government unless funding could be found for his initiative to extend the border wall with Mexico.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.4% at 21,812.09, the S&P 500 lost 0.35% to 2,444.04, and the Nasdaq 100 finished 0.37% softer at 5,851.78.

“This is signature Donald Trump,” said LCG senior analyst Jasper Lawler.

“We think this is basically a bluff by Trump to get his ‘Great Wall’ back on the agenda and show some political rebellion following his foreign policy capitulation in Afghanistan.

“Trump wouldn't want a government shutdown because he feels compelled to put across the image of America "winning" under his Presidency.”

In economic news, new home sales in the States crashed by 9.4% on the month in July to reach an annualised pace of 571,000, which was well below the 610,000 forecast by economists.

Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics noted how data for the previous three months had been revised up by a combined 46,000.

"With the labor market strong, the biggest threat to the new homes market right now is the tightening of mortgage lending standards in recent months, though we don't expect that to continue," he added.

However, IHS Markit's composite manufacturing and service sector purchasing managers' index jumped from a reading of 54.7 for July to 56.9 in August - a 27-month high.

The service sector PMI was the reason behind the gain, rising from 54.7 in the month before to 56.9 - a 28-month high.

Still on the macroeconomic calendar, market participants were also be watching out for a speech by Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan in Texas.

Kaplan is one of the policymakers that has become increasingly concerned about a lack of inflation and recently suggested he may be willing to wait before raising interest rates again.

In corporate news, Lowe's shares slumped 3.71% after its second-quarter earnings and sales fell short of analysts' expectations.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.57 versus expectations of $1.61, while revenue was $19.5bn compared with an estimate of $19.53bn.

Cloud software company Salesforce.com was on the front foot, rising 0.13% on the heels of better-than-expected earnings published late on Tuesday.

American Eagle Outfitters was 7.76% higher after beating the Street consensus.

Dow Jones - Risers

United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $117.08 1.16%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $142.21 0.80%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $33.25 0.27%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $106.67 0.24%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $159.98 0.13%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $91.67 0.12%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.66 0.03%
American Express Co. (AXP) $85.31 -0.02%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $79.95 -0.07%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $45.54 -0.13%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $132.78 -1.41%
3M Co. (MMM) $202.67 -1.36%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $101.50 -1.24%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $30.92 -1.12%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $53.61 -0.96%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $114.78 -0.92%
Visa Inc. (V) $103.20 -0.86%
General Electric Co. (GE) $24.40 -0.85%
Boeing Co. (BA) $238.24 -0.69%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $72.72 -0.60%

S&P 500 - Risers

Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $64.01 4.35%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $16.18 3.85%
Alcoa Corporation (AA) $41.06 3.24%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $10.89 3.12%
Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG) $157.62 2.83%
GGP Inc (GGP) $21.16 2.82%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $24.89 2.64%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $12.34 2.49%
Extra Space Storage (EXR) $77.66 2.43%
CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) $20.38 2.41%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) $72.66 -7.00%
Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (IPG) $19.58 -6.32%
Stryker Corp. (SYK) $138.42 -4.91%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $31.01 -3.96%
Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW) $73.06 -3.71%
United Rentals Inc. (URI) $108.74 -3.34%
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $51.72 -3.20%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $43.97 -3.17%
United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) $62.83 -2.89%
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $297.08 -2.76%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $64.01 4.35%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $352.77 3.35%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $165.80 2.00%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $88.31 1.92%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $29.21 1.56%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $57.04 1.55%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $53.31 1.52%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $44.83 0.99%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $42.44 0.69%
Broadcom Limited (AVGO) $256.92 0.68%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $31.01 -3.96%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $43.97 -3.17%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $33.64 -2.18%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $48.87 -2.10%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $32.62 -2.01%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $5.56 -1.94%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $135.52 -1.90%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $135.67 -1.83%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $40.65 -1.69%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $390.33 -1.69%