US stocks dipped to snap a six-session winning streak as gains in Boeing and Gilead were offset by slides in AT&T and the wider biotech sector.
AT&T Inc fell 3.8 percent to $34.92 a day after the Dow component reported earnings that beat expectations, offset by weak service revenue growth. Verizon Communications shed 1 percent to $47.43 while the S&P telecom sector index dropped 2.2 percent, easily making it the session’s worst-performing sector.
Biotech shares pulled the Nasdaq lower. Amgen Inc slid 5 percent to $113.32, a day after earnings missed forecasts. The Nasdaq biotech index fell 1.5 percent and NYSEArca biotech index lost 1.6 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 12.72 points or 0.08 percent, to 16,501.65, the S&P 500 lost 4.16 points or 0.22 percent, to 1,875.39 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 34.491 points or 0.83 percent, to 4,126.967.
After the closing bell, Facebook Inc gained 2.2 percent to $62.69. Its mobile advertising business continued to accelerate in the first three months of the year, helping the Internet social networking company top Wall Street’s revenue target.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,566 to 1,482, while on the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers 819 to 1,775.
In Europe, rising worries over Ukraine also weighed, offsetting data that showed Germany continued to power the euro zone’s recovery.
Europe’s private sector started the second quarter on its strongest footing in nearly three years, according to a purchasing managers’ index for the euro zone, although new orders were mainly buoyed by price cuts.
MSCI’s measure of global equity performance faltered after five straight days of gains. The all-country world stock index fell 0.2 percent.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading regional shares closed down 0.57 percent at 1,338.84.
Shares in Ericsson, the Swedish mobile telecom equipment maker, fell 6.1 percent, trimming the most points off the FTSEurofirst 300, after the company’s first-quarter sales and profit came in below analysts’ forecasts. The results were hit by weak trading in North America.
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was last up 11/32 in price to yield 2.6842 percent.
The dollar slipped against the euro and yen . Its value against a basket of currencies fell to its lowest level in a week.
The euro rose 0.09 percent to $1.3816. Against the yen, the dollar fell 0.22 percent to 102.37 yen. Brent oil fell after weekly data showed US crude inventories hit a record high, though prices found some support from the continuing crisis in Ukraine.
US crude oil stocks jumped 3.5 million barrels to 397.6 million barrels last week, the US Energy Information Administration said.
Brent crude for June delivery reversed slight gains after the EIA data to settle down 16 cents at $109.11 a barrel. US crude for June delivery settled down 31 cents at $101.44 a barrel.
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