S&P 500 marks its third straight loss
Mixed earnings, report of slowed economic growth weigh on investors
Stocks finished modestly lower Thursday, closing out another listless day of trading on Wall Street with a third straight loss.
Technology, energy and consumer products companies pulled down the market, offsetting gains in consumer goods, utilities and real estate stocks.
Investors weighed a government report that showed economic growth slowed at the end of last year. Traders also had their eye on a mixed batch of corporate earnings reports.
“You have a market that’s trying to digest what’s next right now; really all week it’s been kind of consolidating a little bit,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. “You also have month-end selling, which is not uncommon.”
Despite a sluggish few days, the benchmark S&P 500 index still gained 11.1 percent over January and February, its best start to a year since 1991. The index has posted a monthly gain nine out of the past 12 months.
The S&P 500 index slipped 7.89 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,784.49. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 69.16 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,916. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 21.98 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,532.53.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gave up 5.50 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,575.55. Major indexes in Europe closed mostly higher. South Korean stocks fell after talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended abruptly without an agree-
ment.
The market’s strong start to the year is in stark contrast to a dismal end to 2018, when a plunge almost put an end to the bull market. The gains so far this
year are being pushed by investor confidence in prospects for steady growth and an increasingly hands-off Federal Reserve.
Still, the modest decline in stocks this week after a barely broken string of weekly gains in the S&P 500 suggests the market’s momentum has started to stall a little bit, Delwiche said.
“A flat week feels like something has changed,” Delwiche said.
HP plunged 17.3 percent after it reported that weaker printer and computer sales hurt fiscal first-quarter profit. It also expects printer supplies revenue to fall in 2019 because of weaker global demand.