Wall St down as profit-taking caps advances

Trader Anthony Riccio, left, and specialist Thomas McArdle, right, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. File photo / AP

Wall Street slipped overnight, after both the Dow and the S&P 500 climbed to fresh record highs earlier in the session, as investors weighed whether the outlook for corporate earnings justified pushing equities higher still.

In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.08 per cent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index inched 0.04 per cent lower. The Nasdaq Composite Index was steady at 4,651.83. Earlier in the day, the Dow climbed to a record high 17,638.21, while the S&P 500 touched a record 2,041.28.

"At a time when the bulk of earnings season is behind us, the kind of calm market we are seeing this week is to be expected," David Lebovitz, global market strategist at JP Morgan Funds in New York, told Reuters.

"That being said, we have come pretty far, pretty fast. I wouldn't be surprised to see the market consolidate a little, in the form of hovering around here or pulling back a little bit," Lebovitz added.

The US bond market was closed because of the Veterans Day holiday.

Declines in shares of Wal-Mart and those of 3M, last down 0.5 per cent each, led the Dow lower.

Shares of Time Warner Cable and those of Comcast extended Monday's declines, last down 2.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively, after President Barack Obama called for increased regulation of the internet. Shares of Verizon Communications were last down 0.5 per cent, while those of AT&T were down 0.2 per cent.

Bucking the trend, shares of Zynga rallied, last up 6.9 per cent, after analysts at Jefferies Group upgraded their rating on the stock.

Oil fell, pushing Brent to the lowest level in four years, amid concern Opec won't reduce production. Brent for December settlement shed1.3 per cent to US$81.25 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange at in New York in early afternoon trading.

"There's uncertainty about Opec and whether it will or will not cut production at the November 27 meeting," Kyle Cooper, director of commodities research at IAF Advisors in Houston, told Bloomberg News. "They probably wouldn't have to do that much to stabilise the market but until some action is taken there's not a lot of upside for this market."

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 ended the session with a 0.4 per cent advance from the previous close. The UK's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.2 per cent, as did Germany's DAX, while France's CAC 40 added 0.5 per cent.

Corporate earnings that exceeded expectations such as from Vodafone helped buoy the mood in Europe. Shares of Vodafone climbed 5.4 per cent after the company upgraded its earnings outlook.

Earnings from Germany's Henkel and Hochtief also bolstered sentiment, while shares of Italy's UniCredit sank after its latest quarterly operating profit failed to meet expectations.

On currency markets, the Swiss franc edged ever closer to the level at which analysts expect the country's central bank to intervene in the market to check its rally.