US close: Markets finish lower as Trump continues Asia rhetoric
US equity markets finished lower on Monday, as investors looked towards the second quarterly earnings season having earlier shrugged off Trump’s comments on North Korea.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.06% at 20,650.21, the S&P 500 lost 0.16% to 2,358.84, and the Nasdaq 100 ended 0.07% softer at 5,432.20.
Investors were watching out for Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida on Thursday, which Trump tweeted could be “very difficult”.
Recently, Trump told the Financial Times that he might use trade as leverage to encourage China to rein in North Korea and if China does not, the US would “solve” the North’s nuclear weapons programme itself.
FXTM chief market Strategist Hussein Sayed said: “According to the White House, the meeting will be focused on global, regional, and bilateral issues of mutual concern.
“In fact, the meeting will more likely be focused on the US trade deficits with China.
"What makes this summit more complicated is the US president’s intention to penalise currency manipulators, which China likely to be on the top of the list.”
Looking ahead, investors were also looking out for the publication on Wednesday of the minutes of last month’s FOMC meeting when the central bank raised interest rates and the non-farm payrolls report on Friday
There was a slew of data released on Monday with Markit’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index falling to 53.3 in March from 53.4 a month earlier and slightly below the 53.5 predicted.
The ISM manufacturing index dipped to 57.2 in March in line with the consensus forecast, from 57.7 in February.
US construction spending rose 0.8% in February, a little below the 1% consensus forecast.
January’s spending was revised up by 0.6%, but the net revision was only up 0.3%.
Meanwhile, auto stocks were on the back foot after carmakers reported a slump in first quarter sales, pointing to a slowdown in the US new vehicle market.
Ford Motors, Fiat Chrysler, General Motors were down 1.72%, 4.98% and 3.37%, respectively.
Tesla gained 7.27% after the electric car maker said on Sunday that it delivered a record 25,000 vehicles in the first quarter, an increase of 60% from last year.
In other corporate news, Coty fell 2.15% after British fashion house Burberry said that it would transfer its beauty business to Coty for around $225m.
Dow Jones - Risers
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $165.59 0.96%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $49.18 0.88%
Visa Inc. (V) $89.36 0.55%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $107.79 0.40%
General Electric Co. (GE) $29.88 0.27%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $36.16 0.25%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $174.50 0.21%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $124.69 0.11%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $34.24 0.09%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $82.07 0.07%
Dow Jones - Fallers
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $79.68 -0.82%
American Express Co. (AXP) $78.59 -0.66%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $33.58 -0.65%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $92.27 -0.53%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $65.55 -0.47%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $87.52 -0.36%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $71.83 -0.35%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $228.96 -0.33%
3M Co. (MMM) $190.72 -0.32%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $55.56 -0.31%
S&P 500 - Risers
Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) $33.90 2.82%
CIGNA Corp. (CI) $149.42 1.98%
GGP Inc (GGP) $23.59 1.77%
Humana Inc. (HUM) $209.77 1.76%
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $452.75 1.62%
Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) $61.48 1.62%
Extra Space Storage (EXR) $75.54 1.55%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $116.34 1.51%
Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) $113.50 1.37%
Dover Corp. (DOV) $81.36 1.26%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) $17.57 -25.86%
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $56.67 -4.31%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $2.05 -4.21%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $258.69 -4.13%
Robert Half International Inc. (RHI) $46.86 -4.03%
Csra Inc. (CSRA) $28.18 -3.76%
Borg Warner Inc. (BWA) $40.36 -3.47%
AutoNation Inc. (AN) $40.83 -3.43%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $7.89 -3.43%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $28.42 -3.17%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $298.52 7.27%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $138.52 3.63%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $31.92 2.60%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $175.00 1.44%
Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $43.03 1.13%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $838.55 1.08%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $856.75 1.06%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $95.97 0.95%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $49.52 0.75%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $33.76 0.57%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $258.69 -4.13%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $34.75 -3.12%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $58.10 -2.68%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $34.12 -2.63%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $58.25 -2.13%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $45.71 -1.95%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $107.45 -1.74%
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $63.55 -1.61%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $119.29 -1.61%
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $79.84 -1.60%