US stocks retreated on Thursday as losses in industrial stocks and interest-rate sensitive sectors offset marginal gains in tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 97.01 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 26,018.64.
The S&P 500 lost 4.45 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 2,798.11 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.23 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 7,296.05, according to Reuters.
Utilities and real estate dipped 0.6 per cent and 1.0 per cent, respectively. The two sectors, which are considered bond proxies, fell as yields on 10-year Treasury notes hit a 10-month high.
Boeing Co, a high-flying stock of late, fell 3.1 per cent, alongside General Electric Co, which dropped 3.3 per cent.
Morgan Stanley wrapped up earnings season for the big US banks with a better-than-expected quarterly profit, driving modest gains in its shares.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp fell 4.4 per cent after the custodian bank said it expected to book more in severance costs in 2018. It was the second-biggest decliner on the S&P.
Alcoa Corp tumbled 7.0 per cent after the aluminum producer’s earnings missed analysts’ estimates.
IBM and American Express shares were lower after the market close on Thursday following their quarterly earnings reports.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.64-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.74-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 84 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 127 new highs and 25 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 6.93 billion shares, compared to the 6.3 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
