Wall Street slid on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 in loss territory for a second day and the Nasdaq Composite halting a seven-day winning streak as declines in tech and energy stocks along with turmoil in President Donald Trump's administration dented sentiment.
Nearly all of the S&P's sectors were in the red heading into the close, with tech, financials and energy all retreating more than 1%. Another day of triple-digit losses for the Dow saw more than two thirds of the blue chips decline.
Trump unexpectedly fired his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and said he would nominate CIA director Mike Pompeo to replace him. While stocks initially gained after inflation data came in mostly in line with expectations, overbought signals sparked profit taking in tech stocks and oil prices turned weaker, weighing on energy names.
Tillerson told reporters he would hand over his duties at midnight, and leave the state department by the end of March. In his statement Tillerson didn't mention Trump and earlier Trump said that he and the former Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) chief disagreed on issues, notably the Iran nuclear deal.
Exxon slipped 0.9% in line with weaker energy stocks, with the sector also down 0.9%. Financials fell 1.1% while the sharpest loss among the 11 groups came from information technology, which retreated 1.2%. Janney said in a note that internet stocks were showing overbought signals after surging this year. Netflix ( NFLX ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN ), which were mentioned as "very overbought by short-term technical standards," slid 1.7% and 0.6% respectively.
The Dow's losses saw more than two thirds of its components retreat, with General Electric ( GE ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) sliding the most while UnitedHealth (UNH) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) climbed as health care clung to a 0.2% gain on the S&P. Real estate rose 0.3% in the best advance among the groups.
Here's where the markets stood by the close:
US MARKETS
Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 171.58 points (-0.68%)
S&P 500 was down 17.71 points (-0.64%)
Nasdaq Composite Index was down 77.31 points (-1.02%)
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
FTSE 100 was down 1.05%
Nikkei 225 was up 0.66%
Hang Seng Index was up 0.02%
Shanghai China Composite Index was down 0.49%
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) SPEX (+54.62%) To enter cyber security market via DatChat acquisition
(+) PTI (+54.11%) Gets FDA breakthrough therapy designation for PTI-428
(+) DSW (+10.89%) Q4 earnings mixed, dividend lifted by 25%
(+) ITCI (+2.81%) Reports positive pre-NDA meeting with FDA over schizophrenia treatment
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) CVGI (-19.96%) Reported downbeat Q4 results
(-) TLYS (-17.64%) Q4 results miss analysts' views
(-) AUG (-9.59%) Announces $8.5 million in financing
(-) KURA (-2.8%) Oppenheimer lowers price target to $27 from $30
(-) QCOM (-4.95%) Proposed buyout by Broadcom gets blocked by Trump
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
