US stocks ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its longest losing streak since the November election which had led tickers to a succession of record highs.
On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as President, the timing took away some of the allure of the soon to be sworn in Administration.
Even buoyant Philly Fed manufacturing data and a drop in initial weekly jobless claims failed to dent the downbeat mood.
Policy uncertainty ahead of Friday’s inauguration curbed investors’ risk appetite.
That uncertainty was fuelled when billionaire investor George Soros, speaking at the World Economic Forum annual event in Davos, predicted that Trump is preparing for a trade war with China, as the US president-elect forces Europe into closer relations with Asia.
Meanwhile, ratings agency Moody’s signalled that Mexico, seen as taking a hit from Trump’s policies alongside anything with China, is in a 50-50 status for a credit downgrade.
In New York, the Dow fell 0.4% to 19,732 marking five consecutive days of declines.
The S&P 500 declined 0.36% to 2,263.69 — its biggest one-day drop this year — led by a sell-off in interest rate-sensitive real estate and utilities sectors that were down 1% and 0.9% respectively. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.3% to 5,540.08.
The top decliner on the S&P 500 was oil group Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) down 5.2% to $6.62 amid stemmed gains by oil prices following a spike in US crude oil inventories measured by the EIA.
The S&P Midcap 400 closed down 0.8% at 1667 and led by Aaron's Inc (NYSE:AAN) down 9.7% to $29.19 and in the S&P Smallcap 600 down 1% to 823 the biggest loser was Rent-A-Center Inc (NASDAQ:RCII) down 18.5% to $8.31 after the company issued dismal preliminary guidance for fourth-quarter 2016.
The company now anticipates fourth-quarter Core US same-store sales (comps) to decline nearly 14%, while expects Acceptance Now comps to edge up in the range of 1–2%.
Further, Rent-A-Center now expects to report a fourth-quarter loss of 20–30 cents per share, on both adjusted and GAAP basis.