U.S. stocks fall, bond prices rise as investors turn cautious

Stocks ended modestly lower and bond prices rose on Wall Street on Thursday as investors turned cautious, shifting money into lower-risk holdings.

The selling, which lost some of its momentum toward the end of the day, came as traders weighed the implications of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump and new government data showing slower U.S. economic growth.

Communication services, health care and energy stocks accounted for a big slice of the sell-off, which erased some of the market’s gains from the day before.

Consumer-product makers, real estate companies and utilities, which are viewed as more defensive sectors, notched gains. Bond prices rose, pulling down the yield on the 10-year Treasury to 1.69% from 1.73% late Wednesday.

The U.S. congressional inquiry into Trump is throwing more volatility into an already sensitive market, particularly on trade issues. Traders also found no comfort in the Commerce Department’s latest economic snapshot, which showed the U.S. economy grew at a modest 2% in the second quarter, a sharply lower pace than the 3%-plus growth rates seen over the past year.

“We’re giving back, clearly, some of yesterday’s gains,” said Jeramey Lynch, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. “It’s just the uncertainty.”

The S&P 500 index fell 7.25 points, or 0.2%, to 2,977.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 79.59 points, or 0.3%, to 26,891.12. The Nasdaq dropped 46.72 points, or 0.6%, to 8,030.66.

Smaller company stocks bore the brunt of the selling, sending the Russell 2000 down 17.33 points, or 1.1%, to 1,533.33.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are each on track for their second straight weekly loss as volatile trading brought on by anxiety over trade issues takes its toll. The lateSeptember slide has been cutting into quarterly gains for the S&P 500 and all but erased the Nasdaq’s third-quarter gain.

Stocks got off to a mostly lower start Thursday ahead of a televised congressional hearing in the impeachment inquiry into Trump. The markets fluctuated the rest of the morning but remained lower through much of the afternoon.

While many analysts say the congressional probe isn’t likely to affect the market significantly, it does add a degree of uncertainty and could complicate the White House’s efforts to resolve trade disputes with China and other nations.

Chinese importers have set deals to buy American soybeans and pork as the governments make conciliatory gestures ahead of trade talks and Trump has suggested a trade deal could happen soon. Nonetheless, investors remain cautious ahead of the next round of trade talks between Washington and Beijing next month.

Separately, Japan and the U.S. signed a deal covering agricultural, industrial and digital trade, but it kept auto tariffs unchanged.

Communication services stocks fell broadly. Facebook slid 1.5% amid concerns that the company could find itself the target of another antitrust investigation.

Health insurers were among the biggest losers. UnitedHealth Group dropped 3% and Cigna slid 3.5%.

Energy stocks also declined. Chevron lost 2.7%.

Technology stocks rebounded after an early slide. The sector has been volatile all week amid investor concerns about the U.S.-China trade war and upcoming negotiations in October. Adobe rose 2.3%.