Mnuchin’s stimulus remarks send stocks skidding

Stocks fell after Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said that getting a stimulus deal done before the Nov. 3 election would be difficult.

Mnuchin, who spoke via a video feed at the Milken Institute Global Conference, said that he had an hourlong talk Wednesday morning with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D- San Francisco), and the two sides are negotiating — but time is running out.

“We continue to make progress on certain issues. On certain issues we continue to be far apart,” Mnuchin told Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerard Baker. “The clock will not stop. I’d say at this point getting something done before the election and executing on that would be difficult just given where we are and the level of details. But we are going to try to continue to work through these issues.”

Shortly after he made his remarks, the Standard &

Poor’s 500 fell nearly 1% to 3,481, before closing at 3,488.67, down 0.7%.

The benchmark index broke a strong four- day winning streak Monday, while the Dow Jones industrial average lost 165.81 points, or 0.6%, to 28,514. The pullback knocked the Dow back into the red for the year. The Nasdaq composite slid 95.17 points, or 0.8%, to 11,768.73. At one point it had been up 0.6%.

Small company stocks, the biggest gainers so far this month, also fell. The Russell 2000 small- cap index gave up 15.20 points, or 0.9%, to 1,621.65.

Despite the market’s two- day slide, stocks have been mostly pushing higher this month.

Even so, this week’s kickoff to earnings reporting season is painting a mixed picture for investors.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo fell after the release of their reports, posting the biggest losses in the S& P 500. Bank of America sank 5.3% after its revenue fell short of analysts’ forecast, while Wells Fargo dropped 6% after its earnings were lower than Wall Street expected.

The sharpest profit drops for the quarter are expected to come from energy stocks, but the sector rose Wednesday to some of the biggest gains among the 11 that make up the S& P 500 index.

Tech stocks fell, weighing down the broader S& P 500. Amazon lost 2.3% and Microsoft slid 0.9%. Apple bounced back from an early slide and eked out a 0.1% gain.

The yield on the 10- year Treasury note fell to 0.72% from 0.74% late Tuesday.