US close: Stocks dip ahead of presidential debate

Walt Disney Co.

$111.33

09:45 23/12/24

-0.62%

-$0.70

Stocks on Wall Street finished modestly lower, despite the release of a surprisingly strong reading on US consumer sentiment.

Dow Jones I.A.

42,793.70

04:30 15/10/20

n/a

That was largely due to investors choosing to sit on their hands ahead of a much anticipated televised debate between US President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, at 0200 BST.

"We're closing in on month and quarter end, which will likely have an impact on trading - the usual portfolio rebalancing that gets mentioned around this time - but more broadly speaking, we could just be seeing investors taking to the sidelines ahead of this evening's debate," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

"Joe Biden still has a healthy lead and therefore everything to lose, while the debating stage surely benefits President Trump as he looks to close the gap. The New York Times expose on Trump's tax affairs will certainly add extra spice to the evening, with the President going into the debate on the backfoot, meaning he'll probably come out all guns blazing."

By the end of trading, the Dow Jones Industrials was 0.48% weaker at 27,452.66, alongside a 0.48% drop for the S&P 500 to 3,335.47, while the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.29% to 11,085.25.

According to Real Clear Politics, a national average of polls had Biden well out in front by a margin 6.1 points with 49.3% support, but in the so-called 'top battleground' states his lead was narrower at 3.6 points.

Critically, some pollsters believed that quite a few Americans were wary of openly supporting Trump, meaning that Trump might still have a chance at retaining the Presidency and Republicans the White House.

In corporate news, Palantir Technologies set a reference price of $7.25 per share for its direct listing on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Software maker Asana was also due to pursue a direct listing on Wednesday.

To take note of as well, Disney shares fell 1.4% in after-hours trading following the announcement that it would lay off 28,000 staff in response to California authorities' decision to keep its themeparks closed due to the pandemic.

On the economic front meanwhile, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index rebounded from two consecutive monthly falls in September, rising from August's reading of 86.3 to 101.8 (consensus: 90.0).

The S&P Case Shiller-Core Logic 20-City Composite house price index was ahead by 3.9% year-over-year in August (consensus: 3.6%), up from 3.5% in the previous month.

Dow Jones - Risers

Nike Inc. (NKE) $126.35 1.63%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $304.15 0.30%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $147.06 -0.03%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $137.14 -0.08%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $272.11 -0.08%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $39.06 -0.18%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $147.41 -0.18%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $59.24 -0.20%
Visa Inc. (V) $199.44 -0.44%