US close: Markets turn weaker as investors watch stimulus progress
Wall Street stocks closed in negative territory on Wednesday, as investors kept an eye on progress with regards to coronavirus stimulus talks.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.35% at 28,210.82, the S&P 500 lost 0.22% to 3,435.56, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.28% at 11,484.69.
The Dow Jones closed 97.97 points weaker on Wednesday, reversing gains recorded earlier in the session, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were making progress in their ongoing stimulus talks.
Meadows said that both the House Speaker and Treasury Secretary would talk again on Wednesday, adding that he hoped the pair would be able to reach "some kind of agreement before the weekend".
Pelosi said on Tuesday that she was "optimistic" about the potential of the two striking an aid deal.
However, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he was encouraging the White House not to agree on a major bill over concerns that it could divide Republican Party members just days before the US election on 3 November.
On the macro front, mortgage applications dropped for a fourth straight week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's most recent weekly survey.
Mortgage applications fell 2% in the week ended 16 October, while the purchase index was up 26% year-on-year and the refinance index remained broadly flat week-on-week - up just 0.2%
Turning to the Federal Reserve, governor Lael Brainard said more fiscal support was required from congress to address large parts of the US economy.
"The recovery remains highly uncertain and highly uneven - with certain sectors and groups experiencing substantial hardship,” Brainard said.
“These disparities risk holding back the recovery.
“Further targeted fiscal support will be needed alongside accommodative monetary policy to turn this K-shaped recovery into a broad-based and inclusive recovery.”
Elsewhere, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said the central bank's new approach to monetary policy should help it influence the economy at a time when interest rates and inflation are low, but cautioned that policymakers needed to be cautious of financial stability risks.
"While monetary policy that leads to a stable macroeconomy encourages financial stability, it is also possible that in an environment with low neutral rates, a persistently accommodative monetary policy could, in some cases, increase the vulnerabilities of the financial system," Mester said.
In terms of earnings, Netflix was down 6.92% after it fell short on estimates for subscriber additions and earnings per share overnight, while Snap was up 28.3% after it beat forecasts on its latest quarterly report card.
Biogen managed gains of 0.67% even after it posted a 55% drop in earnings for the third quarter.
Abbott Laboratories was down 2.24% despite topping quarterly profit and sales estimates amid the Covid-19 pandemic, while Verizon slid 0.87% after it beat earnings expectations and increased its full-year guidance.
Dow Jones - Risers
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $125.00 5.83%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $126.63 1.34%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $129.43 0.73%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $143.25 0.54%
Visa Inc. (V) $198.43 0.37%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $144.40 0.35%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $228.19 0.33%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $53.50 0.13%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $214.80 0.07%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $202.91 -2.46%
Boeing Co. (BA) $163.87 -2.02%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $115.06 -1.97%
American Express Co. (AXP) $101.48 -1.66%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $33.16 -1.60%
Raytheon Technologies Corporation (RTX) $60.35 -1.45%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $70.87 -1.13%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $37.08 -1.09%
3M Co. (MMM) $169.17 -1.04%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $99.37 -1.00%
S&P 500 - Risers
Twitter Inc (TWTR) $50.24 8.39%
Chubb Corp. (CB) $128.22 7.48%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $22.04 6.73%
Avery Dennison Corp. (AVY) $142.56 6.12%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $125.00 5.83%
Cincinnati Financial Corp. (CINF) $84.29 5.60%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $213.07 5.50%
Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) $40.39 5.24%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $278.73 4.17%
Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (IPG) $18.70 3.89%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $489.05 -6.92%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $78.44 -6.09%
Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS) $48.61 -6.09%
Concho Resouces Inc. (CXO) $44.26 -6.01%
ConocoPhillips (COP) $30.64 -5.95%
Apache Corp. (APA) $9.10 -5.31%
Keycorp (KEY) $12.43 -5.05%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $118.19 -4.69%
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) $73.67 -4.59%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $73.11 -4.46%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $213.07 5.50%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $278.73 4.17%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $134.84 3.66%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $1,593.31 2.40%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $1,585.99 2.25%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $81.94 2.25%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $45.67 2.16%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $1,702.03 1.81%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $63.62 1.78%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $125.16 1.71%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $489.05 -6.92%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $118.19 -4.69%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $146.13 -3.12%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $111.30 -2.99%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,299.13 -2.59%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $52.82 -2.55%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $43.94 -2.44%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $78.72 -1.76%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $31.44 -1.72%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $211.38 -1.47%