- Title: Wall Street ends down, led by healthcare
- Date: 18th November 2016
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 18, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MERCADIEN ASSET MANAGEMENT, PRESIDENT, KEN KAMEN, SAYING: "The reality of things can't happen as quickly as it seems that market euphoria that made new highs - it's starting to settle in on people."
- Embargoed: 3rd December 2016 21:16
- Keywords: stocks markets indices Wall Street Gap Abercrombie Dow S&P Nasdaq St. Louis President James Bullard Federal Reserve Kansas City Esther Georg Chair Janet Yellen interest rates
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Economic Events,Equities Markets
- Reuters ID: LVA00258Z4LFX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday (November 18), with healthcare stocks leading the declines, as investors cashed in on a post-election rally and waited for clarity on the next administration's policies. Wall Street equities took a breather after rising dramatically since Donald Trump's surprise victory in the presidential election last week.
"The reality of things can't happen as quickly as it seems that market euphoria that made new highs, said Ken Kamen, president at Mercadien Asset management. "It's starting to settle in on people."
While the three major indexes closed higher for the second week in a row, the rally lost some steam this week as investors awaited more information to support their bets that Trump could succeed in passing proposals to lift infrastructure spending and reduce taxes.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 35.89 points, or 0.19 percent, to 18,867.93 while the S&P 500 dropped 5.22 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,181.9. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 12.46 points, or 0.23 percent, to 5,321.51 after hitting a record of 5346.8.
The Nasdaq's biggest drags came from technology companies such as Alphabet and drug firms including Amgen.
Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors closed lower. Losses in shares of Allergan and Merck were the biggest drags on the S&P health sector, which led the decliners. The health index pared its post-election lift but was still 1.8 percent higher than Nov. 8, even after Friday's drop of 1.2 percent. Only five of the indexes stocks ended higher.
Consumer staples fell 0.4 percent, weighed down by a 1.3 percent fall in Procter & Gamble. The S&P Energy sector was the second best performer with a 0.5 percent increase as producers added to rig count, suggesting that they might be expecting a demand boost, Polarci said.
Traders are pricing in an 83 percent chance for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in December, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The S&P financial sector ended up 0.08 percent, and has risen 10.8 percent since the U.S. election, boosted by prospect of higher interest rates and lighter regulation.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Friday he was leaning toward supporting a December increase and that the real question would be the Fed's rate path in 2017. Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George said that while she supports raising rates, the U.S. central bank must do so only gradually. The comments added to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's Thursday statement that the rate hike could come "relatively soon."
Gap fell 16.6 percent and Abercrombie & Fitch fell 13.8 percent. Both retailers warned of a challenging holiday quarter. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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