US close: Geopolitical worries boost Treasuries, stocks resilient
Stocks on Wall Street slipped slightly as geopolitical concerns weighed on investor sentiment, sending investors towards the relative safety of US Treasuries and gold.
The Dow Jones Industrials ended 0.03% or 6.72 points lower at 20,651.30, while the S&P 500 lost 3.38 points or 0.14% to 2,353.78 and the Nasdaq Composite drifted down 14.15 points to 5,866.77.
In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note ended the day down by seven basis points to 2.30%, albeit amid holiday-thinned trading volumes, as front month gold futures jumped 1.6% to close at $1,274.20/oz..
From a sector standpoint, the worst performing industrial groups were: Transport services (-1.78%), Coal (-1.75%) and Marine Transportation (-1.40%).
Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures gained 27 cents to end the day at $53.40 a barrel on the ICE.
Geopolitical concerns continued to build after North Korea denounced the US deployment of a navy strike group to the Korean Peninsula and warned that it was ready for war.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed there is a "window of opportunity" to persuade Russian to ditch its support for Syria's Bashar al-Assad. Foreign ministers for the Group of 7 countries rejected Britain’s call for sanctions on Russia and Syria following last week’s chemical attack.
On the data front, the number of job openings increased slightly in February, according to the Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
Job openings rose 5.74m from 5.62m in January and more than the 5.65m forecast. Over the month, hires and separations were little changed at 5.3m and 5.1m, respectively. Within separations, the quit rate was also little changed at 2.1%, and the layoffs and discharges rate was flat at 1.1%.
United Continental Holdings fell 1.13% after it was caught dragging a passenger off an overbooked flight. United said it had asked for four volunteers to leave the plane due to overbooking and one customer refused to give up his seat.
RetailMeNot soared 48.39% following news late on Monday that the coupons website has agreed to be bought by Harland Clarke Holdings for $11.60 a share, which is about 50% above its closing price on Monday.
Dow Jones - Risers
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $131.20 0.94%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $113.07 0.57%
Boeing Co. (BA) $178.57 0.57%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $73.43 0.51%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $89.80 0.35%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $48.70 0.33%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $113.14 0.23%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $165.83 0.21%
3M Co. (MMM) $190.07 0.19%
General Electric Co. (GE) $30.04 0.10%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $141.63 -1.08%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $79.14 -1.08%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $227.74 -0.50%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $108.97 -0.42%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $170.58 -0.36%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $82.84 -0.35%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $33.93 -0.32%
American Express Co. (AXP) $77.26 -0.30%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $32.92 -0.27%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $85.73 -0.17%
S&P 500 - Risers
American Airlines Group (AAL) $43.93 3.80%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $49.09 3.13%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $34.72 2.84%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $46.57 2.58%
Hess Corp. (HES) $51.11 2.28%
Alcoa Corporation (AA) $34.39 2.17%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $175.01 2.03%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $22.82 1.92%
Navient Corporation (NAVI) $14.89 1.78%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $33.74 1.66%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Endo International Plc (ENDP) $10.76 -9.35%
Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS) $238.34 -3.76%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $8.10 -3.11%
Royal Caribbean Cr (RCL) $95.30 -2.71%
Mallinckrodt Plc Ordinary Shares (MNK) $43.62 -2.68%
Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) $41.01 -2.45%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $55.35 -2.07%
Kroger Co. (KR) $29.57 -2.05%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $38.45 -2.04%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $41.45 -1.87%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
American Airlines Group (AAL) $43.93 3.80%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $49.09 3.13%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $175.01 2.03%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $86.05 1.50%
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $25.73 1.34%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $89.68 1.06%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $59.01 0.85%
Liberty Interactive Corporation QVC Group (QVCA) $21.39 0.85%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $58.72 0.82%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $59.64 0.68%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. - Ordinary Shares (NCLH) $47.47 -2.20%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $55.35 -2.07%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $38.45 -2.04%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $48.90 -1.91%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $41.45 -1.87%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $91.61 -1.73%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $38.20 -1.70%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $27.18 -1.66%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $367.07 -1.66%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $268.00 -1.59%