The Dow and S&P 500 ended slightly lower today, breaking their five-day streak of record closing highs as energy and utility shares lost ground, while the Nasdaq climbed.
Energy shares fell along with oil prices, with Brent crude oil breaking below $80 a barrel for the first time since September 2010. Shares of Exxon Mobil were down 1.1 percent at $95.38, while the S&P energy index dropped 0.9 percent.
S&P utilities slid 2 percent and were the biggest drag on the benchmark index, reversing recent gains. The index is still up 7.6 percent for the month so far.
The S&P 500 has rallied more than 9 percent from a six-month low in October, buoyed by supportive economic data and corporate earnings. For the year so far, it is up 10.3 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.7 points, or 0.02 percent, to 17,612.2, the S&P 500 lost 1.43 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,038.25 and the Nasdaq Composite added 14.58 points, or 0.31 percent, to 4,675.14.
Lifting the Nasdaq, Apple shares gained 1.4 percent to $111.25, a record high. Shares of Twitter jumped 7.5 percent to $42.54. It said during its first financial analyst day it is considering creating additional mobile applications.
Financial shares slipped after global regulators fined five major banks for failing to stop their traders from trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market. The banks included Citigroup Inc, whose shares dipped 0.7 percent.
The day’s gainers included retailers, with the S&P retail index climbing 0.6 percent. Macy’s Inc rose 5.1 percent to $61.57 after upbeat earnings. Shares of Fossil jumped 8.4 percent to $112.48, a day after its results.
Shares of J.C. Penney fell 1.3 percent in after-hours trading, while shares of Cisco Systems dipped 0.2 percent, both after reporting results.
Among the day’s biggest NYSE decliners, SeaWorld Entertainment slumped 9.4 percent to $16.85 after earnings fell short of expectations.
NYSE advancers outnumbered decliners 1,669 to 1,410, a 1.18-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,645 issues rose and 1,029 fell for a 1.60-to-1 ratio.
About 5.9 billion shares traded on US exchanges, below the 6.6 billion average this month, according to BATS Global Markets.
In Europe, shares retreated after two days of gains, with utilities slipping after some company earnings and financials hit by global regulators moving to fine five banks for failings in currency trading.
The utilities index fell 2.4 percent, the biggest sectoral decliner, led by a 5.7 percent drop in Italy’s Enel after it lowered its debt-reduction target for 2014 and reported a drop in nine-month core earnings.
Germany’s top utility fell 4 percent after posting a steep drop in profits at its business in Russia, its most important foreign market.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 1.1 percent to 1,344.15 points. It remained within the tight trading range seen since late October.
The European banking index slipped 2 percent after global regulators imposed penalties totalling $3.4 billion on UBS, Citigroup, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and JP Morgan.
HSBC was down 0.4 percent, while U.S. banks JPMorgan and Citi were down 1.4 percent and 1 percent respectively. UBS bucked the trend, up 0.2 percent, with traders saying the fine had been already taken into account.
Barclays fell 2 percent. The British bank, a major player in the foreign exchange market, had been expected to be part of the settlement but Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FCA) said its investigation was continuing.
Italian bank UniCredit was down 5.4 percent and peer Banco Popolare, which announced a net loss of 121.7 million euros for January-September late on Tuesday, dropped 4.2 percent.
The European retail index fell 1.3 percent, weighed down by a 1.6 percent drop in supermarket chain J. Sainsbury after it announced plans to cut spending deeply to help pay for lower prices.
On the positive side, oil services group SBM Offshore jumped 18 percent after it settled with Dutch prosecutors for $240 million over an inquiry into suspected improper payments to government officials.
Meanwhile, Japanese stocks gained today, as investors gave the thumbs-up to a media report that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will delay a second sales tax hike to avoiding damaging Japan’s economic recovery, and call a snap election to cement his position.
The Nikkei benchmark closed up 0.4 percent at 17,197.05, its highest since October 2007.
Department store shares outperformed the market as the prospect of retailers avoiding damage to sales similar to that caused by April’s tax hike boosted sentiment.
J.Front Retailing Co added 3.1 percent, Takashimaya jumped 2.9 percent and Marui Group soared 3.2 percent. The broader Topix advanced 0.4 percent to 1377.05, while the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 closed up 0.2 percent at 12,580.85.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald