US close: Stocks sink again, dollar trashed by Trump talk

US stocks made it two down days in a row on Wednesday as trading was crimped by lingering geopolitical tensions and the upcoming Easter holiday.

The Dow Jones index fell 59.44 points or 0.29% to close at 20,591.86, while the Nasdaq composite lost 30.61 points or 0.52% to 5,836.16 and the S&P 500 gave up 8.85 or 0.38% to finish at 2,344.93.

The S&P 500 closed below its 50-day moving average for the first time since Donald Trump was elected President, breaking a 105-session streak that was the longest that the index has finished above this important technical trend line since 2011.

The dollar tumbled just as the session was ending after President Trump rowed back on his previous criticism of China as a "currency manipulator" and told the Wall Street Journal that the dollar is "getting too strong". The greenback lost at least 0.5% on both the euro and yen to 1.0663 and 109.07 and was down 0.4% to 1.254 against sterling.

"I think our dollar is getting too strong, and partially that's my fault because people have confidence in me," Trump said. "But that's hurting -- that will hurt ultimately."

The President also said he had offered Chinese President Xi Jinping a more favourable trade deal in exchange for his help on confronting the threat of North Korea.

However, tensions with Russia over Syria remained elevated and stocks were under pressure from an array of other factors, which were combining to simultaneously push up the price of safe haven assets such as gold.

Analyst Connor Campbell at Spreadex said: "Some of that will stem from the various macro-issues facing the Trump administration, issues that weren’t helped by the President telling Fox Business that he is sending an ‘armada’ to North Korea.

"Trump also claimed that tax reform won’t be as tough to push through as healthcare, a promise that has been treated with the correct amount of scepticism by investors."

Henry Croft of Accendo Markets said the investor trade-off between safe haven assets and riskier equities continued.

"While geopolitical tensions may have come off the boil, markets have not yet discarded the cautious outlook that led to yesterday afternoon's sell off," he said.

US economic data on Wednesday included the Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS), which showed the number of job openings increased slightly in February.

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%.

Meanwhile, oil prices broke a run of seven straight days of gains on hopes of an extension to the OPEC-led production cut. West Texas Intermediate dipped 1% to $52.82 per barrel.

United Continental Holdings fell 3.05% and wiped about $375m off the airline’s market capitalisation 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 49.03% 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.

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, earnings from banking heavyweights JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are due on Thursday, with the financial sector falling ahead of these releases.

Dow Jones - Risers

Nike Inc. (NKE) $55.57 1.18%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $125.40 0.95%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $63.05 0.75%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $42.94 0.66%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $90.31 0.57%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $48.92 0.45%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $121.46 0.22%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $82.97 0.16%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $141.80 0.12%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $170.66 0.05%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $94.86 -2.31%
Boeing Co. (BA) $176.05 -1.41%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $146.54 -1.12%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $32.62 -0.91%
General Electric Co. (GE) $29.77 -0.90%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $78.38 -0.90%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $225.75 -0.87%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $112.24 -0.80%
American Express Co. (AXP) $76.68 -0.75%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $85.40 -0.38%

S&P 500 - Risers

HP Inc (HPQ) $18.02 2.74%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $17.61 2.38%
Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) $64.26 2.23%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $34.12 1.70%
PepsiCo Inc (PEP) $113.61 1.68%
Mallinckrodt Plc Ordinary Shares (MNK) $44.30 1.56%
Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (WYN) $87.12 1.54%
SCANA Corp. (SCG) $66.22 1.41%
Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) $21.11 1.25%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $91.93 1.21%

S&P 500 - Fallers

United States Steel Corp. (X) $31.26 -9.97%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $64.61 -8.32%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $46.29 -8.05%
Alcoa Corporation (AA) $32.05 -6.80%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $12.88 -5.43%
Nucor Corp. (NUE) $57.88 -4.33%
Broadcom Limited (AVGO) $209.20 -3.84%
United Rentals Inc. (URI) $121.13 -3.81%
Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK) $150.23 -3.77%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $15.63 -3.70%