US close: Stocks finish weaker ahead of CPI print

Wall Street reversed earlier gains to finish weaker on Wednesday, as major indices continued to search for direction ahead of the release of May's consumer price index tomorrow.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.44% at 34,447.14, while the S&P 500 lost 0.18% to 4,219.55 and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.1% at 13,911.75.

The Dow Jones closed 152.68 points lower on Wednesday, adding to the losses recorded in the previous session even as major indices continued to hover near record levels.

While things were mostly quiet ahead of Thursday’s CPI print, reopening play Carnival slipped into negative territory to finish down 2.03%.

So-called ‘meme stocks’ were also in focus, with Reddit users now turning their attention to Clover Health Investments, which slid 23.61% following an 85% rally in the previous session.

Also on traders’ agendas was news that the US government had committed to spending $1.2bn on nearly two million courses of Merck's experimental Covid treatment, according to the American drug firm.

Molnupiravir, which has not yet received regulatory approval, is currently in phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of non-hospitalised Covid-19 patients who have at least one risk factor associated with poor disease outcomes.

The payment, for 1.7 million courses of treatment, remained conditional on Molnupiravir receiving emergency use authorisation from the Food and Drug Administration.

Merck shares finished 2.27% firmer by the end of trading.

On the macro front, applications for mortgages slipped in the US during the week ended 4 June as refinancing dropped to the lowest level seen since February 2020.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, its seasonally adjusted market index fell 3.1% week-on-week and 27% year-on-year.

Elsewhere, US wholesale inventories increased 0.8% month-on-month in April to $698.0bn, according to the Census Bureau, in line with preliminary estimates and following a 1.2% uptick in March.

On a yearly basis, wholesale inventories advanced 5.2% in April.

Dow Jones - Risers

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $74.04 2.27%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $165.59 1.35%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $239.52 1.14%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $150.67 1.07%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $253.59 0.40%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $127.13 0.31%
Visa Inc. (V) $232.31 0.11%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $57.00 0.00%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $230.94 0.00%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%