US stocks closed slightly lower, pharmaceutical and health care sector led the decline

Release time：May 10, 2019 From：admin00

Sina Wall Street News Beijing time 18 am, US stocks fell slightly on Wednesday. The pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors fell, offsetting the impact of strong earnings and economic data. The Fed's Beige Book believes that the US economy continues to grow moderately and moderately, and the job market is still tight.

At 16:00 on April 17th (04:00 on April 18th, Beijing time), the Dow fell 3.12 points, or 0.01%, to 26449.54 points; the S&P 500 index fell 6.61 points, or 0.23%, to 2900.45. Point; the Nasdaq fell 4.15 points, or 0.05%, to 7996.08 points.

The pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors were weak, with Dow component Merck (73.92, -3.64, -4.69%) (MRK) closing down 4.7% and Pfizer (39.88, -1.04, -2.54%) falling 2.6%. Health (216.84, -4.12, -1.86%) Group (UNH) fell 1.8%.

Among the 11 major segments of the S&P 500 index, the healthcare sector fell 1.9%. The sector fell 2% on Tuesday, the biggest one-day drop since January 3.

Ernie Cecilia, CIO of Bryn Mawr Trust, said: "The health care sector is one of the worst performers this year. Part of the reason is political. From a regulatory perspective, managed care and some large pharmaceutical companies still have questions."

The Federal Reserve released the Beige Book report on economic prosperity at 2 pm on Wednesday. The report believes that the US job market is still tight, companies are difficult to find skilled workers, and wages are growing moderately.

The Beige Book shows that the US economic activity has moderated to moderate growth in March and early April. Some Fed areas reported an increase in economic growth.

The Fed said that since the last announcement of the Beige Book report, prices have risen modestly, and tariffs, freight costs and wage increases have generally been considered as major factors. According to the Beige Book, consumer spending is mixed, but it is pointed out that sales of ordinary retailers and car dealers are sluggish.

The Fed said that wages for skilled and unskilled workers in most regions have grown moderately. There are three regions reporting a slight increase in salary.

Companies in most regions report a shortage of skilled workers, mainly manufacturing and construction, but there are also problems with technical and professional positions. According to the Beige Book, companies have responded to the tight labor market by raising bonuses and benefits, as well as moderate pay increases. Employment growth is mainly concentrated in high-skilled jobs.

When it comes to manufacturing, the Fed said that respondents in many regions reported that trade-related uncertainty is putting pressure on corporate activities.

At the same time, company performance is the focus of the market. Morgan Stanley (48.26, 1.24, 2.64%) (MS), Pepsi (127.01, 4.60, 3.76%) (PEP), Abbott (72.88, -3.50, -4.58%) (ABT) and United Bank of America (50.67) , 0.39, 0.78%) (US. Bancorp) and other financial statements were released before the market on Wednesday. The Las Vegas Sands Group (67.91, -0.25, -0.37%) will also report the latest earnings. On Tuesday, BlackRock (467.49, 0.95, 0.20%) and Bank of America (30.03, 0.15, 0.50%) both reported strong earnings.

In terms of international trade relations, the EU plans to take retaliatory tariff measures against US subsidies for Boeing (377.52, -4.20, -1.10%), crack down on US$12 billion in US goods, and publish a preliminary list of commodities.

The European Commission began a public consultation on a range of US goods, including game consoles, ketchup and more. The World Trade Organization will finalize the scope of the EU's crackdown measures, which may be decided by the end of this year or early 2020.

On Wednesday, the European Union announced the plan in Brussels, which previously threatened to impose import tariffs on $11 billion in European goods from helicopters to cheese to counter the government subsidies that Airbus received. The two sides have been controversial for 14 years in the WTO for the support of aircraft manufacturers, which led to market distortions.

Economic data, the US Commerce Department released the February trade account data on Wednesday, the US trade deficit in February narrowed again to 49.4 billion US dollars, hitting an eight-month low, far lower than the expected $53.5 billion, the trade deficit in January It is $51.1 billion.

In addition, US exports in February increased by 1.1% qoq to US$209.7 billion; imports increased by 0.2% qoq to US$259.1 billion. Specifically, the export volume of commercial aircraft increased by 60% from the previous month to 5.8 billion US dollars, which is the most important driving factor for exports. The export volume of automobiles and medicines increased by 600 million US dollars; the import of consumer goods (especially mobile phones and household appliances) The increase in the amount of imports of industrial supplies and services has decreased.

US trade deficit with China narrowed to US$30.1 billion in February, hitting a two-year low: exports increased by US$1.6 billion to US$9.2 billion, up 21.6% quarter-on-quarter, and imports fell by US$1.5 billion to US$39.3 billion.

Overseas economic data, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday that GDP in the first quarter of 2019 increased by 6.4% year-on-year, indicating a stable economic start.

Investors are also keeping a close eye on the latest developments in the Fed. Fed officials who spoke today include Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard.