US close: Dow Jones reverses previous session's gains

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks closed lower on Wednesday after two straight positive sessions for major indices.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.81% at 32,910.90, while the S&P 500 was 1.08% weaker at 4,115.77, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session just 0.73% softer at 12,086.27.

The Dow closed 269.24 points lower on Wednesday, reversing gains recorded in the previous session.

Despite investors shrugging off signs of an economic slowdown ahead of Friday's consumer price index reading in the previous session, stocks headed south on Wednesday as market participants digested updates from major companies and hints that economic growth may finally be slowing.

Elsewhere, the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was in focus, with the yield moving above 3% again to 3.022%, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate drew an amount of investor attention, with crude oil pushing well above $120 a barrel.

On the macro front, US mortgage applications fell in the week ended 3 June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, with housing prices remaining elevated and inventories remaining low.

The MBA's market composite index sank 6.5% to hit the lowest level in 22 years amid heightened interest rates, with applications to refinance a home dropping 5.6% and those to purchase a single-family home dropping 7.1%.

Elsewhere, wholesale inventories increased 2.2% month-on-month to $861.8bn in April, slightly ahead of initial estimates of 2.1% and after a 2.7% rise in the previous month for a 21st straight month of gains.

According to the Census Bureau, durable goods stock was up 2% and nondurable goods stock was 2.4% higher. On an annual basis, wholesale inventories jumped 24% in April, also above an earlier reading of 23.8%.

In the corporate space, Campbell Soup beat earnings and revenue estimates with its latest set of quarterly results before the session.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $229.80 1.19%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $189.19 1.09%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $122.40 0.60%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $181.13 0.52%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $230.94 0.00%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $67.24 -0.19%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $51.55 -0.19%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $245.54 -0.35%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $107.34 -0.42%