NEW YORK: US stocks pulled back after four days of record closes, starting one of the last August trading days slightly lower.
Optimism about the prospects of seeing successful talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement in Washington had buoyed investors all week, but with a holiday looming they were taking advantages of the elevated prices to reap profits.
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 0.2 percent to 26,076.79 about 10 minutes into the session.
The broader S&P 500 also slipped 0.2 percent to 2,907.83, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 0.3 percent to 8,084.77.
“The popular explanation for that disposition is ‘trade angst,’ yet the real explanation is trading angst,” Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said in a commentary.
But following “a scorching run over the past four sessions,” he said, “trade angst is a convenient excuse to avoid sharing the typically unsatisfactory explanation that the market is simply due to encounter some profit taking.”
US and Canadian trade officials opened their third day of talks on Thursday, and a deal on the rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement appeared to be within reach with both countries offering optimistic predictions a deal could happen by Friday.
In economic data, a key US inflation measure accelerated slightly to hit the fastest pace in six years at 2.3 percent.
The four-week average for initial claims for jobless benefits fell to the lowest point since 1969, further confirming the basic strength of US employment.
Retailers were in focus again, including discount stores Dollar Tree, down nearly 11 percent, and Dollar General down 0.5 percent, even though both chains turned in better-than-expected earnings reports.
Source: Brecorder
