Investing.com – US markets closed mixed as gains in financials were offset by losses in tech led by a slump in Apple while fears of a US, China trade war weighed on sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 26,252. The S&P 500 closed 0.06% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 7415.06, down 0.61%.
Despite mostly bullish corporate earnings posted so far, investors fled tech stocks as shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc C (NASDAQ:GOOG) closed lower weighing on the broader market.
Apple closed 1.59% lower amid fading investor expectations for strong iPhone X sales after J.P. Morgan analyst Narci Chang wrote in a research note that "high-end smartphones are clearly hitting a plateau this year."
Also weighing on upside moment in equities were growing fears over a US, China trade war after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross claimed that China’s tech ambitions under its 2025 were a “direct threat” that is being implement “by disrespect for intellectual property rights” among other “very bad things.”
Financials, were the best performing sector of the session as banks rose sharply with Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) closing sharply higher. That comes despite data showing weakness in the US housing market.
The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that existing home sales fell 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units last month.
In corporate earnings news, Forward Industries Inc (NASDAQ:FORD) revealed fourth quarter earnings of $0.39 per share on revenue of $35.05 billion which missed Wall Street estimates.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS)rose 2.1%, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) up 1.9% and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) up 1.3%
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) down 1.7%, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) down 1.6%, and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) down 1.2%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.