Geopolitical Concerns Continue To Weigh On Wall Street - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After moving to the downside early in the session, stocks remained mostly negative throughout the trading day on Wednesday. With the drop on the day, the major averages added to the modest losses posted in the previous session.

The major averages ended the day in the red but off their worst levels of the day. The Dow dipped 59.44 points or 0.3 percent to 20,591.86, the Nasdaq slid 30.61 points or 0.5 percent to 5,836.16 and the S&P 500 fell 8.85 points or 0.4 percent to 2,344.93.

The modest weakness on Wall Street came amid lingering geopolitical concerns as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected decline in import prices in the month of March.

The Labor Department said import prices dipped by 0.2 percent in March after climbing by a revised 0.4 percent in February.

The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected import prices to inch up by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.2 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said export prices rose by 0.2 percent in March following a 0.3 percent increase in February. Export prices had been expected to tick up by 0.1 percent.

The economic calendar picks up in the coming days, including with the release of some key data while the markets are closed on Friday.

Reports on retail sales, producer and consumer prices, and import and export prices may attract attention later this week.

On the earnings front, financial giants Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) are due to report their quarterly results on Thursday.

Steel stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 4.7 percent. With the drop, the index fell to its lowest closing level in over three months.

Considerable weakness was also visible among railroad stocks, as reflected by 2 percent slump by the Dow Jones Railroads Index. Greenbrier (GBX) and Trinity Industries (TRN) turned in two of the sector's worst performances.

Oil service, semiconductor and trucking stocks also saw notable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.9 percent.

The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line.

In the bond market, treasuries ended the day roughly flat following the rally seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 2.296 percent.