Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 06, 2015 in New York City. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 120 points today as Wall Street braces for Friday's employment report which will give a more solid indication of the timing of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve. - AFP. In early Asian trade Friday MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.3 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock index fell 0.2 percent as investors awaited the outcome of the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting later this session, at which it is widely expected to maintain its stimulus programme.
New York: Wall Street closed slightly lower on Tuesday, inching back from an initial selloff that followed deadly attacks in Brussels, as declines in consumer and telecom stocks offset a jump in healthcare shares.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombings at Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train that killed at least 30 people and triggered security alerts across Europe.
Global risk markets faltered before limping up, while traditional safe havens gold and government bonds firmed as the events in the de facto capital of the European Union unfolded.
The tepid stock market recovery followed earlier patterns of a selloff in reaction to violent events, such as the November attacks in Paris, then a quick recovery.
"When you have an incident like this, you suddenly have a surge in uncertainty because people don’t know what the scale of it is," said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JP Morgan Funds in New York. "As uncertainty goes down, stocks go up."
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 41.3 points, or 0.23%, to 17,582.57, the S&P 500 lost 1.8 points, or 0.09%, to 2,049.8 and the Nasdaq Composite added 12.79 points, or 0.27%, to 4,821.66.
Three of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, with the health index up 0.9%, leading the advancers. Consumer staples, down 0.75%, were the biggest loser.
Airline and travel-related stocks took a hit after the Brussels attacks.
Cruise operators Carnival Corp was down 2.1% and Royal Caribbean dipped 2.9%, while travel-website operator Expedia was off 1.8% at US$108.92.
Online travel booker Priceline was one of the biggest weights on the S&P 500.
The Dow Jones US Travel & Leisure index slipped 0.7%. The NYSE Arca Airline index was off 0.9%.
Apple rose 0.8% at US$106.72, becoming the biggest boost to the S&P 500 index.
Oil prices steadied after an initial rush to safer assets, with US crude CLc1 futures off 0.17% to US$41.45, rebounding from a session low of US$40.97.
In corporate news, shares of Lumber Liquidators were up 16% at US$13.94 after the company settled with a California clean air agency.
About 6.2 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, below the 8.14 billion average over the last 20 sessions. Volume is expected to stay light ahead of the Easter holiday.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,595 to 1,393, for a 1.15-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,453 issues fell and 1,337 advanced for a 1.09-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 34 new highs and 20 new lows. - Reuters
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