US close: Wall Street red as investors digest earnings, data
Wall Street finished in the red on Wednesday, as investors sifted through fresh economic data and more earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.48% at 23,329.46, the S&P 500 was 0.47% softer at 2,557.15 and the Nasdaq 100 lost 0.41% to 6,055.04.
"Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq failed to replicate the moves in the Dow on Tuesday, having also come off more heavily on Monday, but they continue to trade around record high levels,” said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam earlier in the day.
“The key focus for the indices this week continues to be corporate earnings, with a tenth of the S&P 500 due to report on the third quarter today.”
On the economic front, sales of new US single-family homes unexpectedly rose in September, to their best level since October 2007, according to official figures.
Data from the Commerce Department showed new home sales were up 18.9% from August's revised rate to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 667,000 - economists had been expecting a drop to 555,000.
On the year, sales were up 17%.
Meanwhile, the median price of a new home was $319,700, up from $303,800 in August.
Durable goods orders in the US kept coming in thick and fast too, albeit in part due to a jump in those for civilian aircraft.
Orders for goods made to last more than three years increased by 2.2% month-on-month in September to reach $238.7bn, according to the Department of Commerce.
Economists had projected a rise of 1.3%.
In energy, crude oil stockpiles edged higher last week but alongside large declines in product stockpiles, even as domestic US oil output and imports jumped.
During the week ending on 20 October, commercial crude oil inventories grew by 0.9m barrels from the previous week to reach 457.3m barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration, the US Department of Energy's statistical arm.
That came as domestic US oil output recovered from the prior week's sharp fall, rising by 1.1m barrels a day to 9.51m barrels per day.
In corporate news, Chipotle Mexican Grill plunged 14.62% after the company's earnings late on Tuesday failed to live up to expectations, while Advanced Micro Devices slid 13.47% on the back of a disappointing sales outlook.
On the upside, Akamai Technologies gained 4.03% after better-than-expected results on Tuesday, and Visa added 1.01% after it posted an 11% jump in fourth-quarter profit, thanks in part to its acquisition of Visa Europe.
The Coca-Cola Company fell 0.26% despite posting better-than-expected profit and revenue and eating into the market share of rival PepsiCo, while Northrop Grumman added 3.67% after reporting earnings of $3.68 per share, well ahead of expectations for $2.92.
Transatlantic chemist giant Walgreens Boots Alliance finished the session up 3.08%, after it beat on both the top and bottom lines in its fourth quarter, thanks in part to its US prescription drug delivery service.
Dow Jones - Risers
Nike Inc. (NKE) $54.94 2.85%
3M Co. (MMM) $237.56 1.29%
Visa Inc. (V) $109.49 1.00%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $88.48 0.57%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $142.38 0.51%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $101.02 0.10%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $166.08 0.02%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $83.93 -0.00%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $86.83 -0.14%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $163.58 -0.18%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $258.42 -2.85%
General Electric Co. (GE) $21.50 -1.78%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $153.50 -1.53%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $241.71 -1.28%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $131.80 -1.06%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $62.45 -1.05%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $136.84 -1.01%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $34.30 -0.81%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $118.44 -0.66%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $119.00 -0.63%
S&P 500 - Risers
FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR) $46.52 5.97%
Anthem Inc (ANTM) $205.71 5.36%
Avery Dennison Corp. (AVY) $104.01 5.20%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $54.00 4.03%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $61.16 3.93%
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) $304.75 3.65%
Total System Services Inc. (TSS) $70.42 3.29%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $54.94 2.85%
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) $199.67 2.72%
Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP) $157.02 2.01%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $277.00 -14.58%
Spectra Energy Corp. (SE) $13.73 -9.91%
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $102.99 -9.56%
Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) $24.56 -6.12%
EQT Corp. (EQT) $60.86 -4.98%
Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (DPS) $85.53 -4.67%
Ingersoll Rand Ltd. (IR) $91.33 -4.49%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $37.59 -4.35%
Hess Corp. (HES) $42.22 -4.20%
ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $53.71 -3.99%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $54.00 4.03%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $61.16 3.93%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $69.36 3.08%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $94.40 1.55%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $344.91 1.37%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $71.02 1.15%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $114.56 1.03%
Liberty Global Plc Lilac Class A (LILA) $21.73 1.02%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $36.83 0.90%
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $128.21 0.64%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $325.84 -3.41%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $132.01 -3.40%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $37.40 -2.91%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $146.80 -2.85%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $204.85 -2.83%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $5.56 -2.80%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $52.92 -2.60%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $193.66 -2.53%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $55.30 -1.92%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $275.21 -1.90%