US close: Dow down as Apple's fall cumbers tech sector
US stock indices closed with a late, steep fall into the red on Thursday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady but official data showed economic growth slowed surprisingly in the first quarter.
As they tumbled over the finish line, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.17% at 17,830.76, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both lost early gains to fall 0.92% to 2,075.81 and 1.19% to 4,805.29 respectively.
It was the Dow's largest drop since mid-February, with all stocks led into the red by a continued fall in Apple as the gravity of its first-quarter sales wobble led to influential activist investor Carl Icahn selling his entire stake and citing worries about a slowdown in demand from China.
Tech heavyweights Cisco and IBM were pulled into the vortex, undoing earlier gains for the tech sector as Facebook surged on the back of first-quarter that beat expectations. The social network posted earnings of $1.51bn, almost triple the amount from same quarter a year before.
Overnight, the Fed had decided to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.25% to 0.50% on Wednesday, as expected, but left the door open to a rate increase at the next meeting in June. Policymaker Esther George also voted to raise rates for a second month in a row as the central bank softened its tone on the economic outlook.
US stock traders largely overlooked the Bank of Japan's shock restraint from any extra stimulus measures to bolster the stagnant economy.
The BoJ decided to keep its negative interest rate of -0.10% in place and voted to continue its asset purchase programme.
Alongside the BoJ’s policy announcement, official data showed annualised deflation of 0.1% in March, compared to inflation of 0.3% the previous month.
US data on Thursday was also unkind, with US economic growth shown to have slowed to an annual rate of 0.5% in the first quarter from the 1.4% rate enjoyed in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the Commerce Department. Analysts had forecast a 0.6% increase.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, noted that the Fed had pointed out yesterday that the labour market has continued to improve despite the apparent slowing in growth, which was "perhaps suggesting that they, too, are suspicious of the GDP data”.
Another report from the Labor Department showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week. US initial jobless claims rose by 9,000 to 257,000 from an upwardly-revised 248,000, coming in ahead of expectations for an increase to 260,000.
Meanwhile, choppy oil prices saw West Texas Intermediate crude hold onto its recent gains, standing up 0.65% to $45.73 per barrel and Brent crude up 1.82% to $48.04.
In company news, Solar panel maker First Solar was under the cosh as its quarterly results missed analysts’ expectations.
Dow Chemical fell as the company said its revenue dropped sharply amid pricing and currency headwinds in the latest quarter.
Time Warner Cable advanced as its first quarter revenue and profit beat expectations.
Amazon reported its first quarter after the closing bell, they showed earnings of $1.07 a share on sales of $29.1bn, with the former way in front of forecasts for earnings of 58 cents and revenue also ahead of the $28bn prediction.
S&P 500 - Risers
St Jude Medical Inc. (STJ) $77.79 +25.57%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $116.73 +7.20%
Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) $29.53 +6.26%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $33.10 +4.42%
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE) $53.90 +3.73%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $127.84 +3.57%
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) $87.92 +3.52%
Waste Management Inc. (WM) $58.31 +3.39%
Ford Motor Co. (F) $14.09 +3.15%
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) $72.26 +2.89%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Harman International Industries Inc. (HAR) $77.07 -13.31%
Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $33.92 -10.34%
FirstEnergy Corp. (FE) $32.47 -9.93%
Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH) $78.51 -9.28%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $43.23 -8.70%
XL Group Plc (XL) $32.74 -8.70%
Sealed Air Corp. (SEE) $48.35 -8.22%
Ametek Inc. (AME) $48.10 -8.10%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $57.02 -8.08%
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) $40.42 -7.78%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $94.83 -3.06%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $27.96 -2.37%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $147.07 -2.26%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $132.73 -2.22%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $49.90 -2.04%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $31.11 -2.02%
Boeing Co. (BA) $134.80 -1.66%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $164.29 -1.58%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $66.41 -1.57%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $104.23 -1.57%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Facebook Inc. (FB) $116.73 +7.20%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $127.84 +3.57%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $86.75 +2.66%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $108.03 +1.77%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $50.80 +1.64%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $209.75 +1.61%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $25.65 +1.22%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $29.79 +1.22%
Liberty Media Corporation - Class A (LMCA) $18.51 +0.54%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $11.62 +0.52%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $43.23 -8.70%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $16.86 -6.90%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $142.53 -5.47%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $52.41 -4.45%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $42.60 -4.23%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $97.00 -3.69%
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) $48.24 -3.69%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $78.16 -3.47%
Nxp Semiconductors Nv (NXPI) $85.87 -3.45%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $42.40 -3.17%