Wall Street ends day with modest losses despite House's approval of tax bill
- U.S. House approves tax bill, sends it to Senate
- Apple drags technology lower.
- Wal-Mart outperforms its rivals on Citigroup's upbeat forecast.
Following two consecutive daily closings at all-time highs, major equity indexes in the U.S. failed to extend their rally on Tuesday and finished the day with modest losses even after the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, in a widely expected move, approved the tax overhaul. The Senate is expected to have the final vote on the bill on early Wednesday.
Commenting on the market's reaction, “we’ve had a run-up in preparation as people were expecting a tax cut. Today, the market is off a little bit, maybe because the bill is not as popular as the GOP hopes it would be in the public opinion,” Brian Peery, portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds in Novato, California, told Reuters.
On Tuesday, in a note to investors, Nomura's Instinet brokerage agency said that it downgraded Apple stocks to "neutral from "buy." "We argue that the stock's gains for the iPhone X supercycle are in the late innings. We believe unit growth, if not quite ASP growth, is well anticipated by consensus and a historically full multiple," Instinet analyst Jeffrey Kvaal explained. Apple shares lost more than 1% in the session and weighed on the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector (SPLRCT), which closed the day 0.53% lower.
On the other hand, Citigroup announced that it was expecting the retailer-giant Wal-Mart's shares to continue to rise in 2018, boosting the S&P 500 Consumer Staples Sector (SPLRCS) and allowing it to end the day in the positive territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 40.14 points, or 0.16%, to 24,752.06, the S&P 500 fell 8.74 points, or 0.32%, to 2,681.42 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 31.40 points, or 0.45%, to 6,963.36.