US open: Stocks dip ahead of House vote on tax cuts
Wall Street's main market gauges are trading slightly lower as investors wait on a vote on Republicans' tax cut plans in the US House of Representatives scheduled for later in the day.
At 1616 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was dipping 0.15% or 38.01 at 24,775.93, while the S&P 500 was off by 0.09% or 2.30 points to 2,687.85 and the Nasdaq Composite by 0.28% or 19.26 points to 6,975.57.
From a sector standpoint, the weakest areas of the market were: Residential REITs (-1.44%), Independent multiutilities (-1.30%) and Real estate services (-1.26%).
Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was up by five basis points to 2.44% while the US dollar spot index was down by 0.03% to 93.66.
On Monday, the Nasdaq, Dow Jones and S&P 500 all notched record highs again, with the Nasdaq crossing the 7,000 level for the first time in intraday trading as investors bet that the US tax reform bill will be passed this week after critics of the reforms, Marco Rubio and Bob Corker, said they would back the plans.
Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: "Tax reform was one of the key initiatives that contributed to Donald Trump’s election victory last year as he vowed to revitalise a sluggish US economy. While it may have taken longer to deliver than he expected, it would appear that Republicans determination to give Americans an early Christmas present has paid off, although there has been numerous debates about who actually stands to benefit most from the bill.
"Markets have clearly benefited from the prospect of tax reform over the last 13 months and the Santa rally that we’ve seen in the run up to Christmas is another reflection of that. It will be interesting to see if this will be maintained for the rest of the week or whether it becomes a 'buy the rumour, sell the fact' scenario."
The Commerce Department reported that America's current account deficit shrank by 19% over the three months to September, from $124.4bn to $100.6bn (consensus: -$116.5bn).
Housing starts jumped by 3.3% month-on-month to reach an annualised pace of 1.297m in November (consensus: 1.250m), according to the Census Bureau, which was up from a downwardly revised pace of 1.256m for October.
New home sales for October had originally been pegged at 1.290m.
In corporate news, shares of Navistar International surged following the release of its fourth-quarter earnings.
Stock in Tenet Healthcare was also on the up after saying it would boost its cost-cutting programme. Nevertheless, the company's guided towards earnings per share in a range between $1.07 and $1.36 for the full year 2018, which was well below the $1.40 anticipated by analysts.
Elsewhere, Kindred Healthcare agreed to be taken over by three companies, Humana, TPG Capital and Welsh, Carson, Anderson&Stowe for roughly $4.1bn in cash.
Cruiseship operator Carnival was also putting in a strong showing on the heels of better-than-expected sales and earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter.
Dow Jones - Risers
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $112.27 1.12%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $186.59 1.01%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $98.80 0.92%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $46.29 0.78%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $120.19 0.41%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $135.61 0.30%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $71.60 0.29%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $56.35 0.23%
Boeing Co. (BA) $296.49 0.12%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $38.51 0.07%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $256.70 -1.28%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $174.80 -0.92%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $85.61 -0.89%
General Electric Co. (GE) $17.63 -0.76%
Visa Inc. (V) $112.96 -0.52%
3M Co. (MMM) $237.25 -0.49%
American Express Co. (AXP) $99.26 -0.42%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $126.19 -0.41%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $221.77 -0.40%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $173.65 -0.32%
S&P 500 - Risers
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc (ZBH) $122.82 7.33%
Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) $95.51 5.49%
Alcoa Corporation (AA) $46.07 3.37%
Newfield Exploration Co (NFX) $29.67 3.24%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $15.91 3.11%
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) $27.06 2.91%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $72.09 2.75%
Patterson Companies Inc. (PDCO) $37.67 2.63%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $15.13 2.61%
Halliburton Co. (HAL) $46.49 2.22%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Welltower Inc (HCN) $65.17 -3.22%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $7.94 -3.17%
PPL Corp. (PPL) $32.91 -3.12%
Ventas Inc. (VTR) $62.55 -2.86%
Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) $53.44 -2.69%
ProLogis (PLD) $64.09 -2.68%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $41.96 -2.40%
HCP Inc. (HCP) $26.36 -2.30%
AvalonBay Communities Inc. (AVB) $178.69 -2.07%
Boston Properties Inc. (BXP) $128.41 -1.95%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $43.38 4.08%
Liberty Interactive Corporation QVC Group (QVCA) $26.29 3.46%
Shire Plc Ads (SHPG) $156.73 3.25%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $229.66 3.14%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $72.09 2.75%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $331.25 1.57%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $74.48 1.50%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $388.49 1.33%
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) $44.03 1.08%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $70.25 1.02%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $41.96 -2.40%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $187.12 -1.73%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $5.34 -1.57%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $318.55 -1.45%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $237.51 -1.42%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $91.33 -1.37%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $186.49 -1.36%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $189.71 -1.35%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $49.28 -1.15%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $65.26 -1.14%