Stocks fall on mixed earnings, tensions

Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Wednesday, weighed down by a mixed batch of corporate earnings from big retailers and lingering uncertainty over the trade spat between the U.S. and China.

Lowe’s and Nordstrom were among the biggest decliners in the S&P 500 after the retailers reported quarterly results that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. Target bucked the trend, surging after its latest results handily topped analysts’ forecasts.

Chipmakers and other technology stocks also pulled the market lower, continuing a pattern of volatile trading as investors react to developments in the U.S. and China’s trade dispute. Energy stocks also took losses, falling along with the price of crude oil. Small company stocks declined more than the rest of the market.

The sell-off outweighed gains by health care companies, household goods makers and other sectors, reversing some of the market’s gains from a day earlier.

“There’s just so much uncertainty, it’s really hard for anybody to frame how it’s going to play out,” said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior markets strategist at Voya Investment Management.

The S&P 500 index fell 8.09 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,856.27. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 100.72 points, or 0.4 percent, to 25,776.61. The Nasdaq composite slid 34.88 points, or 0.5 percent, to 7,750.84.

The Russell 2000 index of small company stocks gave up 13.62 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,531.63.

Major stock indexes in Europe closed mixed.

Bond prices rose, dragging the yield on the 10-year Treasury to 2.38 percent from 2.42 percent late Tuesday.