US: Stocks finish lower as Nasdaq rally peters out

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks finished firmly lower on Tuesday after a tech sector rally faded in the latter portion of the session, even as Walmart and other retailers reported strong results.

Investors have been awaiting a bounce in the tech-rich Nasdaq following a period of weakness, but a late-session dive pushed it lower, along with the Dow and S&P 500.

"Unfortunately, dip-buyers were flaky today, thereby keeping a lid on risk sentiment and keeping the S&P 500 within a consolidation trend," said Briefing.com.

The Nasdaq finished down 0.6 per cent, with Apple, Amazon and Facebook all losing more than one per cent.

Earlier, European bourses closed little moved after earlier flurries of post-coronavirus optimism, while oil prices fell and the dollar steadied.

US stocks have been choppy the last few weeks as investors weigh signs of rising inflation against hopes for strengthening economic growth in the second half of 2021.

Data on Tuesday showed new home construction in the United States dropped in April, falling 9.5 per cent after the prior month saw strong growth.

The report comes ahead of Wednesday's release of Federal Reserve meeting minutes. The central bank has repeatedly emphasised it will maintain its easy-money posture, but volatility in markets show investors remain skeptical of those assurances.

An exception on Wall Street was Walmart, which gained 2.2 per cent after reporting earnings that topped analysts' expectations by a wide margin, even as sales growth slowed from the peak of the pandemic.

Elsewhere, London, Frankfurt and the Euro Stoxx index were all close to flat, while Paris fell slightly.

Economic data showing a 1.3 per cent first-quarter contraction in Japan didn't hold Tokyo's stock market back from leading Asian gains, while Taiwan and Singapore defied fears of spreading coronavirus variants to close higher.

Oil fell back, in part due to reports of progress on talks in Vienna to bring the United States and Iran back into the 2015 nuclear deal.

And the dollar slid versus its main rivals.

BK Asset Management's Kathy Lien attributed the greenback's drop to disappointing US housing data, which followed the lackluster April jobs report.

"It was only a matter of time before the dollar sold off across the board as these reports reinforce the Federal Reserve's reluctance to respond to rising price pressures," MS Lien said.

"At a time when the global recovery is gaining momentum, the dollar should underperform."

AFP