US stocks snap 2-day winning streak, close slightly lower

Associated Press

A day of mostly listless trading on Wall Street ended today with U.S. stocks giving back modest gains from the day before.

Telecom sector stocks declined the most, weighed down by a slide in shares of AT&T, Sprint and other phone companies. Only health care stocks eked out a gain. The broad slide snapped a two-day winning streak for the market. Energy futures and precious metals also closed lower.

Investors mostly waded through another round of earnings reports, looking to glean insights into the health of corporate America and the U.S. economy. While some companies turned in disappointing results, most of those that have posted earnings so far are beating financial analysts' expectations, said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade.

"Overall, it's been a very, very good earnings season," Kinahan said.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 40.27 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,162.35. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 2.95 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,141.34. The Nasdaq composite index slid 4.58 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,241.83.

The major stock indexes are all up for the week.

About 15 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported quarterly results so far this earnings period. Of those, more than 80 percent have turned in earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations, Kinahan said.

Financial companies have been among the best performers so far.