Underwhelming revenue forecasts weigh on Wall St.

NEW YORK — US stocks edged lower on Wednesday as video game makers gave disappointing revenue forecasts and investors awaited developments on USChina trade relations.

The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were weighed by declines in shares of Electronic Arts, Inc., which tumbled 13.3% after the video game publisher forecast full-year revenue below Wall Street estimates. The sharp drop pulled down shares of rival video game publisher Activision Blizzard, Inc., which fell 10.1%.

Shares of industry peer TakeTwo Interactive Software, Inc. also dropped sharply, 13.8%, after the company’s similarly underwhelming forecast.

The slump in video game stocks contributed to a 1.5% decline in the S&P 500 communications and services sector, the largest drop among the S&P’s major sectors.

Despite the fall, Wall Street’s indexes remained near twomonth highs. A 7.3% gain in the S&P 500 would put the index above its record closing September high.

“The market is feeling a little exhausted after we’ve had a nice run in January and early February,” said Nathan Thooft, global head of asset allocation at Manulife Asset Management in Boston.

Investors cited a void of catalysts for market gains. “Trade talks are probably the thing that’s really intriguing to the market, but that’s in March,” said Kim Forrest, senior portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh, referring to the deadline for the US and China to reach a trade agreement before additional tariffs go into effect.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21.22 points or 0.08% to 25,390.30; the S&P 500 lost 6.09 points or 0.22% to 2,731.61; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 26.80 points or 0.36% to 7,375.28.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said trade talks with China last week were “very productive” and confirmed that he and other officials will travel to Beijing for the next round of meetings.

Though the major indexes drooped, the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index advanced 2.6%. Shares of Apple supplier Skyworks Solutions, Inc. jumped 11.5% after the company announced $2 billion in stock buybacks, while shares of Microchip Technology rose 7.3% after the company suggested the chipmaker industry was close to recovery from its recent downturn.

Shares of Capri Holdings Ltd., formerly Michael Kors, climbed 11.3% after the fashion company posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its revenue forecast.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. shares slid 7.4% after the oil and gas producer’s fourth-quarter profit missed analyst estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.50-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, a 1.09-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 39 new highs and 17 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was 6.70 billion shares, compared to the 7.50 billion average over the last 20 trading days. —