US close: Stocks edge lower ahead of Fed, White House in focus
Stocks drifted slightly lower ahead of the next US central bank policy meeting, weighed down by a poor outlook from industrial conglomerate General Electric and further negative news-flow swirling around the White House.
Tech giants Microsoft and Ebay also ended lower following their latest quarterly updates; albeit just marginally below the record levels hit the day before.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrials was down by 0.15% or 31.71 points to 21,580.07, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.04% or 0.91 points to 2,472.54 and a 0.04% or 2.25 point fall in the Nasdaq Composite which finished at 6,387.75.
In parallel, front month West Texas Intermediate edged higher by 0.17% to $45.85 a barrel on the NYMEX with the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note off by two basis points at 2.24%.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer tendered his resignation after US president Donald Trump hier financier Anthony Scaramucci as his new director of communications.
In other news relating to the White House, some market commentary emphasised how reports that Trump might be mulling trying to sack Special Counsel Robert Mueller for his decision to investigate Trump's business dealings, as part of his inquiry into Russia's possible role in the US elections, weighed on sentiment.
The fear of some is that the embattled White House may thus be distracted from the need to pass legislation on healthcare and tax reform.
From a sector standpoint, the best performing segments of the market were: Mortgage Finance (2.77%), Mobile Telecommunications (2.09%) and Specialty Finance (1.93%).
The US Federal Open Market Committee was scheduled to meet to decide on rates on 25-26 July and to publish a statement explaining their decision at the end of the second day.
To take note of, the Chicago Board of Options Exchange's VIX volatility index finished 2.35 points lower at 9.34 - its lowest level since December 1993.
General Electric was a top-faller after the conglomerate guided towards the lower-end of its previous full-year forecasts for earnings per share and revenues.
Shares of Honeywell on the other hand traded on the front-foot after delivering better-than expected second quarter top and bottom line figures.
Oil field services outfit Schlumberger also bested analysts's forecasts with its numbers, despite which its shares ended the session lower, reversing early gains.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, posted fiscal fourth quarter earnings per share of 98 cents on $24.7bn. That compared to analysts' forecasts for quarterly EPS of 71 cents on $24.3bn of revenues.
Dow Jones - Risers
Visa Inc. (V) $99.58 1.52%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $59.95 1.44%
Boeing Co. (BA) $212.14 0.88%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $123.47 0.85%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $45.03 0.47%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $125.15 0.47%
American Express Co. (AXP) $85.59 0.28%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $76.15 0.17%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $191.78 0.15%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.23 0.02%
Dow Jones - Fallers
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.91 -2.92%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $103.25 -1.32%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $220.18 -0.95%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $135.31 -0.92%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $80.12 -0.92%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $106.59 -0.68%
3M Co. (MMM) $211.16 -0.61%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $73.79 -0.58%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $62.63 -0.49%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $147.01 -0.39%
S&P 500 - Risers
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $138.43 9.19%
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) $87.94 8.55%
E*TRADE Financial Corp. (ETFC) $41.63 5.13%
Synchrony Financial (SYF) $30.87 4.54%
Moody's Corp. (MCO) $132.57 4.25%
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) $26.18 2.71%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $188.54 2.69%
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $66.09 2.66%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $163.17 2.41%
Advance Auto Parts (AAP) $105.27 1.98%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $54.13 -5.47%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $927.47 -4.55%
Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN) $12.97 -4.35%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $4.69 -3.10%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $5.76 -3.03%
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $345.34 -3.01%
Borg Warner Inc. (BWA) $44.92 -2.96%
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.91 -2.92%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $21.01 -2.91%
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $8.51 -2.74%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $131.79 1.53%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $104.58 1.20%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $180.21 0.50%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $972.92 0.49%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $993.84 0.17%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $150.27 -0.05%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $109.75 -0.15%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $60.93 -0.25%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $149.52 -0.28%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $1,025.67 -0.29%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $78.96 -2.34%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $46.81 -0.93%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $51.91 -0.82%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $52.13 -0.44%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $1,025.67 -0.29%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $149.52 -0.28%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $60.93 -0.25%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $109.75 -0.15%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $150.27 -0.05%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $993.84 0.17%