US close: Stocks end session lower on back of weaker industrials
Fears of a partial government shutdown saw US stocks close lower on Thursday as weaker industrials also weighed on investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.37% or 97.84 points lower at 26,017.81, while the S&% 500 slipped 0.16% to 2,798.03 and the Nasdaq 0.03% to 7,296.05.
The Dow hit an an intraday high near the opening bell before before the slide began and it plunged 168 points at one stage before paring back losses in late trading.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury rose three basis points to 2.62% as the Fed’s Beige Book report showed a strong domestic economy that hinted at a tightening in the labour market.
General Electric shares fell below $17 briefly, and hit their lowest level in seven years. The sell off was prompted earlier in the week as the company reported disappointing results after a review of its GE Capital insurance portfolio.
The company said it would take a $6.2bn after-tax charge for the fourth quarter of 2017, adding that it expected to contribute $15bn over the next seven years to bolster the portfolio's reserves.
IBM shares rose after it reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and full year of 2017. The company ended a run of 22 quarters in a row where revenues were lower on a year-on-year basis.
Apple was still in focus as its much heralded plans to increase jobs and repatriate cash came under greater scrutiny.
Bank New York Mellon shares fell as the company said it would take a $246m charge for redundancies and litigation in the fourth quarter.
A poor fourth quarter performance from Goldman Sachs' fixed income, commodities and currencies trading business, where revenues halved from the same period in 2016, saw the shares lower.
American Express followed suit after reporting a $1.2bn final quarter loss as the company took a huge one-off $2.6bn hit related to the new tax cuts law.
Some of the charges were tied to AmEx's deferred tax assets, or credits that could have used toward future tax bills, which it had to write down.
Dow Jones - Risers
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $169.15 3.23%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $243.22 1.96%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $104.34 1.60%
Boeing Co. (BA) $340.20 1.50%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $76.04 1.45%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $37.00 1.09%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $198.38 1.05%
Visa Inc. (V) $123.09 0.91%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $113.28 0.90%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $46.89 0.77%
Dow Jones - Fallers
General Electric Co. (GE) $16.79 -7.80%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $61.14 -1.50%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $251.01 -1.04%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $87.44 -0.66%
American Express Co. (AXP) $99.90 -0.44%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $131.60 -0.31%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $51.57 -0.31%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $168.84 -0.28%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $110.46 -0.21%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $90.10 -0.04%
S&P 500 - Risers
AES Corp. (AES) $11.53 7.96%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $33.95 6.23%
Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (WYN) $122.76 4.81%
M&T Bank Corp. (MTB) $186.24 4.76%
GameStop Corp. (GME) $17.86 4.08%
Target Corp. (TGT) $77.89 3.92%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $25.59 3.60%
Ralph Lauren Corp (RL) $109.83 3.56%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class C (DISCK) $24.23 3.55%
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $60.06 3.49%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Ford Motor Co. (F) $12.06 -7.90%
General Electric Co. (GE) $16.79 -7.80%
Mallinckrodt Plc Ordinary Shares (MNK) $21.72 -6.10%
Alcoa Corporation (AA) $53.01 -5.74%
FMC Corp. (FMC) $90.16 -5.07%
Endo International Plc (ENDP) $7.35 -4.42%
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $26.79 -3.98%
Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) $55.35 -3.81%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $3.98 -3.74%
Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) $27.68 -3.25%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $203.36 2.10%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $53.29 2.09%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $365.25 2.07%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $38.74 1.97%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $115.28 1.89%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $243.15 1.87%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $91.92 1.78%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $97.24 1.75%
Broadcom Limited (AVGO) $269.80 1.50%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $86.40 1.46%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $126.89 -2.87%
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class A (FOXA) $36.18 -2.51%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $116.41 -2.31%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $74.62 -2.27%
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class B (FOX) $35.73 -2.08%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $47.45 -1.84%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $45.90 -1.52%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $120.35 -1.45%
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $62.88 -1.38%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $90.52 -1.20%