US open: Losses at the bell as data streams in
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Thursday 21 Feb 2019
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street trading kicked lower on Thursday as investors thumbed through a raft of economic indicators and awaited fresh headlines coming from trade talks between senior US and Chinese officials.
At 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was 0.29% lower at 25,880.29, while the S&P 500 had lost 0.38% to 2,774.25 and the Nasdaq moved 0.62% weaker to 7,442.46.
When discussing the market mood surrounding the next round of talks between US and Chinese officials, IG's Chris Beauchamp said: "Markets are becoming less sensitive to the fact that these talks are taking place, in some ways reflecting the weariness and scepticism that comes with each meeting that comes and goes."
"However, while stocks appear to be showing lower expectations, we are still seeing an underlying element of optimism as evident from the seven-month high for the Yuan against the dollar."
Overnight, Bloomberg reported that Washington and Beijing were working on various memorandums of understanding covering areas that ranged from agriculture or technology transfers and intellectual property to non-tariff barriers.
On the data front, US jobless claims fell back more quickly than expected by economists last week.
According to the Department of Labor, initial unemployment claims decreased by 23,000 over the week ending on 16 February to reach 216,000. Economists had forecast a drop to just 235,000.
Orders for goods made to last more than three years rose a tad more quickly than expected at the end of 2018, even as a key lead indicator of investment trends weakened.
According to the Department of Commerce, orders for so-called durable goods grew at a 1.2% month-on-month clip in December to reach $254.5bn.
Although that was less than the 1.5% increase that economists had pencilled-in, it was made up for by an upward revision to the prior month's figure of three-tenths of a percentage point to 1.0%.
Elsewhere, a key gauge of US factory sector activity surprised sharply to the downside in February, although some economists believed the sudden bout of weakness would be short-lived, attributing it to the partial federal government shutdown at the turn of the year and concerns, since allayed, of a repeat.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's manufacturing sector index printed at -4.1, versus a consensus forecast for a reading of 14.5. In January, the closely-followed gauge had stood at 17.0.
Lastly, US home sales dropped in January to their lowest level in more than three years, while house prices grew only modestly.
The National Association of Realtors revealed that existing home sales fell 1.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94m units in January - the lowest level since November 2015 and well below analysts' expectations of a reading of 5m units.
In corporate news, Wendy's opened 0.79% lower as sales came in a tad shy of consensus estimates and offset much of the good done by its better-than-expected adjusted earnings per share.
Norwegian Cruise Lines picked up 3.81% after posting an adjusted quarterly EPS of $0.85 and offered ip some stronger than anticipated guidance for its full-year 2019 profits.
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