U.S. stocks slide, despite Asian gains; Apple weighs

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, weighed down by a slide in Apple's share price and weakness in the energy sector, though European and major Asian bourses earlier ended higher.

Oil prices ended sharply lower, pressured by ongoing concerns about oversupply and bets that demand may slow with global economic growth. [O/L]

"Investors are still looking for policy developments out of China, and also wary of what might come out of the Fed next week," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 1.45 percent, to 16,253.57, while the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 1.39 percent to 1,942.04 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> ended down 1.15 percent at 4,756.53.

Shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) ended down 1.9 percent at $110.15 in heavy trading, after its latest product launch failed to meet expectations.

U.S. energy stocks <.SPNY> led declines among S&P 500 index stocks, falling 1.9 percent as U.S. oil prices fell 3.9 percent. Chevron CVX.N was down 2.5 percent at $74.92.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> rose 1.4 percent and the JP Morgan world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> gained 0.3 percent.

Earlier Wednesday major stock markets had rallied on expectation of increased government support from China and the possibility that Japan will cut corporate taxes.

Japan's Nikkei earlier soared 7.7 percent, its biggest single-day gain since October 2008, galvanized by hopes of corporate tax cuts.

China's Finance Ministry said on Wednesday it would strengthen fiscal policy, boost infrastructure spending and speed up tax reform, helping lift Chinese shares for a second day.

Investors' increased appetite for risk overseas saw the U.S. dollar firm against the safe-haven yen and the euro, but the greenback's gains were lost as Wall Street stocks reversed course.

The euro was little changed against the U.S. currency at $1.1206 while the yen was also near flat at 120.47 per dollar. The dollar index <.DXY>, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was nearly flat.

Benchmark Brent crude oil was down 4.3 percent at $47.41 a barrel. U.S. crude fell 4 percent to $44.11 per barrel.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were at 2.1953 percent, with a slight loss of less than 1/32 in price.

Copper hit a seven-week high above $5,400 a tonne on the back of the Chinese stimulus news and was recently up 0.4 percent at $5,365 a tonne.

Gold fell 1.4 percent, the most in seven weeks, to $1,106 an ounce -the lowest in nearly a month.

(This story has been refiled to add dropped word "fell" to first sentence)

(Additional reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch, Karen Brettell, Tariro Mzezewa, Michael Connor and Robert Gibbons)

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• Trump Bought At Least $100,001 In Palantir Shares, Disclosure Shows - Bloomberg
• Trump discloses over $1.4 billion in crypto income in 2025 filing
• Apple In Discussions To Buy Memory Chips From Chinese Companies - Bloomberg