US close: Street finishes in the red as traders watch Iran developments

Wall Street finished south after a session of losses on Tuesday, as tensions between Washington and Tehran continued to build and on the heels of some much weaker-than-expected consumer confidence data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 0.67% at 26,548.22, the S&P 500 lost 0.95% to 2,917.38, and the Nasdaq 100 was 1.7% weaker at 7,591.54.

At the open, the Dow had lost 72.65 after closing just 8.4 points higher on Monday.

Investors spent much of the day keeping tabs on the news-flow out of the Middle East after Donald Trump signed an executive order slapping Iran's supreme leader and eight Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders with "hard-hitting" new sanctions following the downing of an unmanned US drone last week.

In response, Tehran said the latest moves by Washington meant the "permanent closure" of diplomatic channels between the two countries, labelling them "outrageous and idiotic".

Investors were also eagerly anticipating a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the week which would be the first face-to-face meeting between the pair since trade talks broke down in May, resulting in a tit-for-tariffs battle between the two superpowers.

US house prices edged past forecasts in April even as the annual rate of price gains added to evidence of an ongoing slowdown, although some economists believed prices might be close to hitting bottom.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's home price index advanced at a month-on-month clip of 0.4% and by 5.2% year-on-year.

Economists had forecast a rise of 0.3% versus March and of 4.9% versus the same month one year ago.

One year ago, the HPI had risen by 6.8%.

A rival gauge of house prices, Standard & Poor's CoreLogic Case Shiller national home price index, also revealed a declining trend in terms of the year-on-year rate of change, with the annual pace of price increases slowing from 3.7% for March to 3.5% in April.

Still on the housing front, new-home sales ran at a 626,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate during May, according to the Commerce Department.

The median price of a new home sold in May was $308,000 - 2.7% weaker than the year prior.

Elsewhere, consumer confidence fell in June to its lowest level in almost two years as Americans became more concerned about trade tensions with China.

The consumer confidence index fell to 121.5 from a revised 131.1 in May, according to the Conference Board, its weakest result since September 2017 and well short of expectations for a reading of 130.4.

Lastly, the latest manufacturing index from the Richmond Fed came in at 3 versus, lower than the reading of 5 last month.

On the corporate front, FactSet shares lost 2.75% after initially seeing gains, following solid earnings per share and revenue growth, while Lennar slid 6.21% despite stronger home sales.

In deals news, Chicago-based biopharmaceutical company AbbVie snapped up Botox-maker Allergan for roughly $63bn, mostly in cash.

AbbVie stock ended the session down 16.21%, while Allergan surged 25.43% on the news.

Dow Jones - Risers

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $52.95 1.92%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $153.12 1.09%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $144.26 0.82%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $85.23 0.78%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $205.71 0.71%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $111.75 0.49%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $58.00 0.40%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $129.02 0.21%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $43.78 0.21%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $196.06 0.06%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Nike Inc. (NKE) $82.61 -3.65%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $133.43 -3.16%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $204.74 -2.22%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $56.08 -1.92%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $247.66 -1.83%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $76.27 -1.83%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $46.85 -1.64%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $195.57 -1.52%
American Express Co. (AXP) $123.16 -1.26%
Visa Inc. (V) $171.28 -1.25%

S&P 500 - Risers

Allergan plc (AGN) $162.43 24.17%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $18.65 3.84%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $24.17 3.20%
Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (LW) $62.54 2.79%
Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS) $128.63 2.65%
Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH) $45.75 2.35%
DaVita Inc (DVA) $54.27 2.22%
Perrigo Company plc (PRGO) $45.48 2.20%
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) $34.62 2.15%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $52.95 1.92%

S&P 500 - Fallers

AbbVie Inc (ABBV) $65.70 -16.60%
Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (BHF) $33.66 -11.70%
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) $45.77 -7.24%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $48.22 -6.09%
Wabtec Corp. (WAB) $68.48 -5.88%
FedEx Corp. (FDX) $155.98 -5.67%
Westrock Company (WRK) $34.65 -5.64%
Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) $16.65 -5.51%
Under Armour, Inc. (UA) $21.86 -5.37%
CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) $10.75 -5.20%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Mylan Inc. (MYL) $18.65 3.84%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $52.95 1.92%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $240.29 1.86%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $87.61 0.79%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $84.25 0.72%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $348.69 0.62%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $87.81 0.55%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $30.68 0.52%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $57.89 0.38%
Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) $55.48 0.27%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $287.97 -3.97%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $35.00 -3.93%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $108.95 -3.34%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $163.16 -3.17%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $133.43 -3.16%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $175.82 -3.01%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $113.26 -2.95%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $360.30 -2.89%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $254.60 -2.80%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $124.64 -2.71%