US open: Stocks down following Trump travel ban, Fed starts 2-day meeting

US equity markets were on the back foot on Tuesday, as the immigration ban tapered off the Trump rally while the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting kicked off.

Investors were continuing to react to the backlash of President Donald Trump’s latest executive order on Friday to temporarily restrict immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, which led to a dent in equities in the US and Europe, while safe haven assets including gold, the yen and, for a time, US treasuries were strengthened.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.66% to 19,839.78, the S&P 500 was down 0.51% to 2,269.26 and the Nasdaq was 0.58% weaker to 5,581.39 at 1505 GMT.

Spreadex’s Connor Campbell said: “The Dow Jones plunged 120 points after the bell, leaving it only 40 above the 19,800 mark. That means the Dow is at a one week low, Donald Trump’s global outrage-incurring actions continuing to drag the index away from its all-time highs.”

On Monday, stocks ended in the red after Trump put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on any refugees from Syria and a 90-day ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Trump later fired US attorney general Sally Yates, who was appointed by his predecessor Barack Obama, after she told justice department lawyers not to defend his executive order to ban entry for people from predominantly Muslim countries. The White House said she had betrayed the department by refusing to enforce a legal order that was “designed to protect the citizens of the United States”.

Aside from Trump, investors are also looking ahead to Wednesday’s rate announcement by the Federal Reserve, amid expectations it will leave interest rates unchanged.

Meanwhile, oil prices advanced with West Texas Intermediate was up 1.14% to $53.24 per barrel and Brent crude rose 0.89% to $55.73.

Gold on Comex gained 1.52% to 1,211.30 per troy ounce.

In currency markets, the dollar fell 0.45% against the pound to 0.7973 and saved off 0.94% against the euro to 0.9261, but was down 1.39% versus the yen to 112.19.

On the corporate front, Under Armour tanked 26.04% after its fourth-quarter earnings missed expectations and it announced that chief financial officer Chip Molloy was stepping down.

Harley Davidson dropped 4.37% after its fourth-quarter earnings fell short of expectations.

ExxonMobil fell 0.67% as the oil giant missed fourth quarter earnings expectations.

MasterCard was down 2.4% after its revenue missed expectations, but beat earnings forecasts.

On the upside, luxury fashion retailer Coach was up 0.89% as its fiscal second-quarter earnings beat estimates, while Pfizer rose 0.99% even though its fourth-quarter numbers disappointed.

Sprint was up 4.34% after the company’s losses narrowed and beat the sales forecast.

Technology giant Apple, Electronic Arts and Advanced Micro Devices are slated to report after the close.

On the data front, house prices in the US unexpectedly rose in November, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index. The 20-City composite index was up 5.3% year-on-year from 5.1% in October, beating expectations for a slowdown to 5%.

The national home price NSA index covering all nine US census divisions saw a 5.6% annual gain in November, up from 5.5% the month before.

The Chicago purchasing managers’ index unexpectedly fell to 50.3 in January from 53.9 the previous month. This was below the 55.0 consensus forecast.