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Banks and other financial companies led U.S. stock indexes modestly lower in early trading Tuesday as the market gave up some of its gains from its milestone-setting finish the day before. Investors were sizing up the latest company earnings and economic data while looking ahead to an evening speech by President Donald Trump to both houses of Congress.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 9 points, or 0.1 percent, to 20,827 as of 10:09 a.m. Eastern Time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slid 3 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,366. The Nasdaq composite index lost 18 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,843. The Dow notched 12 straight gains heading into Tuesday’s trading.
BIG SPEECH: Investors are anxiously awaiting Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress later Tuesday and in particular will be seeking more clarity on tax cuts, infrastructure spending and other business friendly policies. On Monday the president told a group of governors, “We’re going to start spending on infrastructure big.” He also said his budget would propose increasing defense spending by $54 billion while cutting domestic programs and foreign aid by the same amount.
BAD MEDICINE: Perrigo slumped 11.2 percent after investors reacted to several disclosures by the Irish drugmaker, including that it has agreed to sell its royalty rights to a multiple sclerosis drug for as much as $2.85 billion. Perrigo said the sale will hurt its earnings, but noted it plans to use the proceeds to pay down some of its debts. The stock slid $9.50 to $75.14.
WHIFFED: Target plunged 13.2 percent after the retail chain’s latest quarterly profit fell short of Wall Street’s forecasts. The company also issued a weak outlook. The stock lost $8.80 to $58.11.
PAY CUT: Online brokers were posting sharp declines after Fidelity announced a cut in trading commissions. Other brokerages also followed suit. ETrade Financial fell $2.14, or 5.8 percent, to $35.06, while Charles Schwab gave up $1.74, or 4.2 percent, to $39.99.
ANEMIC GROWTH: The Commerce Department said that the U.S. economy grew at a 1.9 percent rate in the last three months of 2016, unchanged from an initial estimate. The increase in the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, represented a significant slowdown from 3.5 percent growth recorded in the third quarter.
MARKETS OVERSEAS: In Europe, Germany’s DAX was flat, while the CAC 40 in France was up 0.1 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.1 percent higher. Earlier in Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index trimmed strong earlier gains to finish less than 0.1 percent higher. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.8 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2 percent to 5,712.20.
CURRENCIES: The euro strengthened to $1.0619 from $1.0589 on Friday. The dollar fell to 111.97 yen from 112.80.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude was down 53 cents, or 1 percent, at $53.52 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, was down 52 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $55.90 a barrel in London.
TREASURY YIELDS: Bond prices rose. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.35 percent from 2.37 percent late Monday.
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