Wall Street reclaimed some of its losses on Tuesday but still ended in the red as the S&P 500's telecoms and real estate sectors retreated, while Amazon.com ( AMZN ), briefly hitting a $1 trillion market value, couldn't keep the Nasdaq above water.
Volumes were subdued as investors returned from the Labor Day market holiday on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a third straight day of losses as Nike ( NKE ) fell 3.2% as a call to boycott the retailer emerged following the decision to make former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick part of an advertising campaign.
The Dow was also dented by a 2.2% loss in Verizon ( VZ ) after Barclays lowered it to equal weight from underweight. That helped push the S&P's telecoms sector down 1.2% in the steepest decline among the groups. Real estate shed 1.1%. The consumer groups were split, with discretionary rising 0.2% and staples down 0.4%.
Markets last week fluctuated over US trade worries as the issue was poised to take investors' attention again this week as talks between the US and Canada resume on Wednesday with the backdrop of tweets from President Trump on that there was no "political necessity" to keep Canada in a trade deal with the US and Mexico.
Energy was down 0.5% by the close on the S&P as companies readied for the approach of Tropical Storm Gordon in the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) shut down its Mobile Bay facilities and evacuated its Lena platform, according to reports.
Here's where the markets stood by the close:
US MARKETS
Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 12.34 points (-0.05%)
S&P 500 was down 4.80 points (-0.17%)
Nasdaq Composite Index was down 18.29 points (-0.23%)
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
FTSE 100 was down 0.62%
Nikkei 225 was down 0.05%
Hang Seng Index was up 0.94%
Shanghai China Composite Index was up 1.1%
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) CRON (+12.85%) Announced partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks for cultured cannabis products
(+) ORIG (+11.96%) To be acquired by Transocean ( RIG ) for $2.7 billion in cash and stock
(+) LOCO (+9.66%) Announced $20 million share buyback
(+) ROKU (+6.24%) Initiated at Guggenheim with buy rating, $74 price target
(+) APLS (+2.53%) Says co-treating with Eculizumab and APL-2 shows improvement
DOWNSIDE MOVERS:
(-) AGLE (-15.46%) Announced new data from phase 1/2 study of pegzilarginase
(-) TAHO (-19.62%) Guatemalan mine remains shut-down following court decision
(-) WPP (-7.26%) Reported disappointing 2018 interim results
(-) JD (-5.97%) CEO Liu arrested, released in Minneapolis before returning to China
(-) CZR (-2.94%) Lowers guidance on 2018 RevPAR