Wall Street slips as weak economic data offsets the earnings force

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street lost ground Wednesday as weak US economic data and buzzing geopolitical tensions led buyers to be lured out of the stock market, despite a number of generally positive third-quarter earnings reports.

Technology Shares, Led by Microsoft Inc ( MSFT .O ), weighed the most, and pulled all three major US stock values ​​in the red.

U.S. retail sales hit for the first time in seven months in September, according to the Department of Commerce, in a sign that cracks could spread from the troubled industrial sector to the broader economy.

"This is perhaps the first indication that the consumer side of the economy is showing signs of stress and may be retiring," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York. "The consumer has been seen as the savior of this economy, and this data is coming out and they are quite shocking."

Uncertainty in the US and China increased after the US House of Representatives ruled Beijing by enacting the Pro-democracy Act in support of Hong Kong.

President Donald Trump said he would probably not sign any trade agreement until he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming APEC Forum in Chile, but said a partial trade agreement was formalized.

"It surprises us that the market is no longer responding to the negative problems," Ghriskey added. "Part of this is the expectation that the Fed will cut interest rates at the end of October and that companies may surprise the upside they did in the first second quarter."

Analysts currently expect S&P 500 revenue in the third quarter to fall by 3%, which would mark the first contraction year-on-year since the revenue recession that ended in 2016.

However, 86% of the 43 S&P The 500 companies that posted results in the third quarter so far beat expectations.

Bank of America ( BAC.N ) rose 1.5% after posting a third-quarter gain due to growth in advisory fees and expansion of loan lending.

United Airlines ( UAL.O ) advanced 1.9% after the airline made quarterly estimates for estimates and increased its guidance in 2019.

Dow Jones Industrial Average. DJI fell 22.82 points, or 0.08%, to 27,001.98, S&P 500. SPP lost 5.99 points, or 0.20%, to 2,989.69 and Nasdaq Composite .IXIC fell 24.52 points, or 0.3%, to 8,124.18.

Of the 11 main sectors of the S&P 500, six closed on negative territory, with energy. SPNY and technical. SPRCT suffered the largest percentage losses.

In other stock news, Eli Lilly & Co ( LLY.N ) fell 1.6% in the wake of a late-stage study showing that experimental treatment for pancreatic cancer failed to fulfill it. survival target.

Drug Distributors McKesson ( MCK.N ), AmerisourceBergen ( ABC.N ) and Cardinal Health ( CAH.N ) rose between 2% and 5 after a report that they were in talks with state and local authorities to settle thousands of $ 18 billion opioid lawsuits.

General Motors ( GM.N ) reached 1.1% after the automaker reached a tentative labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union.

Netflix Inc ( NFLX.O ) shares jumped more than 10% in trading after the market after posting quarterly results.

Providing queries constituted a reduction in numbers falling on the NYSE with a ratio of 1.08 to 1; on Nasdaq, advances favored a ratio of 1.07 to 1.

The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and no new lows; Nasdaq Composite registered 35 new highs and 62 new lows.

The volume of US stock exchanges was 6.06 billion shares, compared to an average of 6.79 billion in the last 20 trading days.