US stocks are falling as some more steam comes out of Wall Street’s huge, record-breaking rally.
The S&P 500 was 1 per cent lower in afternoon trading. It’s coming off two small losses since setting an all-time high on Friday and is on track for its first three-day losing streak since early September. The pullback follows a superb run where the index rallied to six straight winning weeks, its longest such streak of the year.
Wall Street has retreated further from its record highs. Credit: AP
The Dow Jones was down 431 points, or 1 per cent, as of 1:11 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.7 per cent lower as Big Tech stocks were among the market’s heaviest weights. The Australian sharemarket is set to retreat, with futures at 5.04am AEDT pointing to a fall of 36 points, or 0.4 per cent, at the open. The ASX added 0.1 per cent on Wednesday.
McDonald’s helped pull the market lower and dropped 5.3 per cent after federal health officials linked its Quarter Pounder burgers with an E. coli outbreak that’s affected at least 49 people in 10 states. Investigators are still trying to find what specific ingredient is contaminated, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said McDonald’s stopped using fresh slivered onions and quarter pound beef patties in several states while the investigation is ongoing.
Coca-Cola fell 2 per cent even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company benefited from higher prices for its products, but a lot of focus was on how much product the company shipped during the quarter, and that fell short of some estimates.
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Boston Scientific also weakened despite delivering better-than-expected quarterly results. It fell 2.1 per cent after saying it’s temporarily pausing its trial of a treatment for persistent atrial fibrillation to assess “a few unanticipated observations.” The medical technology company said it intends to resume enrolment in the near term.
Boeing sank 2.4 per cent in what could be one of the most consequential days in years for the troubled aerospace manufacturer.
The company reported a loss of more than $US6 billion ($9.1 billion) for the latest quarter, as it waits to see the results of a vote by machinists later in the day that could end a strike that’s crippled aircraft production for more than a month. Boeing stock has lost 40 per cent this year.
