NEW YORK: The Dow retreated Tuesday as US stocks remained pressured following lackluster earnings from ExxonMobil and uncertainty over the Trump growth agenda.
ExxonMobil missed expectations and shares fell 1.2 percent after the company reported a 39.6 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings to $1.7 billion.
Among those that dropped more than one percent were JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar, blue-chip companies that had rallied after President Donald Trump’s election sparked hopes of tax cuts, infrastructure spending and other growth policies.
Analysts said there is greater skepticism that Trump and congressional Republicans will succeed in enacting their agenda following a stream of controversies in the administration’s early days, most recently over the executive order on immigration.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 19,864.09, down 0.5 percent and pulling back further from the historic 20,000 points level and the lowest in a week.
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 2,278.87, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index finished up a hair at 5,614.79
“It’s a combination of disappointing earnings, Trump worries and macro news,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial.
UPS slumped 6.8 percent as it reported a loss of $239 million in the fourth quarter and projected weaker-than-expected 2017 profits due in part to ramped-up capital investments to improve e-commerce business.
