US: Stocks fall as election angst overshadows Fed

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks finished lower Wednesday as anxiety over Republican Donald Trump's move higher in the presidential election polls pressured markets.

Energy shares dropped after a record build in US oil inventories, while Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet were among the weak links in technology.

Amid the narrowing presidential race, markets shrugged off the decision by the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged, as expected, and December now is in focus for an increase.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.4 per cent to 17,959.64.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.7 per cent to 2,097.94, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.9 per cent to 5,105.57.

US oil prices fell nearly 3 per cent after commercial oil inventories surged by 14.4 million last week. Drillers Nabors Industries and Transocean shed 4.1 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively, while Dow member Chevron lost one per cent.

In technology shares, Brocade Communication Systems jumped 9.6 per cent on news it will be acquired by semiconductor company Broadcom for US$5.9 billion. Broadcom rose 2.2 per cent.

Video game developer Electronic Arts advanced 1.6 per cent as second quarter net income jumped 50 per cent to US$1.3 billion on strong sales for games such as Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2.

Office Depot shot up 15.1 per cent as it announced plans to streamline its global store footprint after regulators rejected a takeover bid by Staples. Office Depot will close 300 stores in the US and sell its international business in Australia and mainland China, among other countries.

AFP