NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 18: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 18, 2017 in New York City. The Dow Jones Industrial average closed at 23,157.60, the first time it has ever closed above 23,000. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==
NEW YORK: Wall Street fell sharply on Thursday, pulling back from record highs, amid a broad decline that was led by technology stocks and disappointing quarterly reports from major companies.
Apple dropped 2.4% on growing worries about slack demand for the new iPhones.
The other high-flying FAANG stocks, Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet and Netflix were down between 1.2% and 1.6%.
“People think that October is a scary time and they should take profits, maybe that is what’s happening with the tech stocks,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
The technology sector has had a strong run this year, gaining more than 30% and leading the charge by the three major indexes to record high levels.
At 9:41am ET (1341 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 91.47 points, or 0.39%, at 23,066.13, the S&P 500 was down 9.92 points, or 0.39%, at 2,551.34 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 50.38 points, or 0.76%, at 6,573.84.
The declines come after the Dow closed above 23,000 for the first time ever on Wednesday and on a day that marks 30th anniversary of the 1987 Black Monday stock market crash.
Nine of the 11 major S&P indexes were lower, with gains only in the defensive utilities and telecoms sectors.
“It’s going to be more a company specific day and looks like earnings will be able to support the stock price.”
Verizon rose 3.3%, boosting telecoms stocks including AT&T, after reporting strong revenue and subscriber numbers.
The financial index dropped, led by Bank of New York Mellon and KeyCorp after their earnings reports.
EBay tumbled 4.19% after the online marketplace warned current-quarter profit could miss estimates.
United Airlines sank nearly 6%, dragging down other airlines stocks and the Dow Jones Transport index, after reporting lower profit due to flight cancellations during the hurricane season.
Among the few gainers in the tech sector was Adobe, which jumped 9% after it gave a strong 2018 profit forecast.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,883 to 722. On the Nasdaq, 1,798 issues fell and 590 advanced. - Reuters
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