Wall Street drifted lower on Monday, starting the week in negative territory after the Dow’s record streak of all-time highs.
Trading got underway with investors awaiting any specifics on fiscal stimulus and tax cuts in President Donald Trump address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
The Commerce Department also reported that new orders for US manufactured goods, a subject close to Trump’s political agenda, rose 1.8 percent in January on the strength of aircraft sales. But excluding the transport sector, orders fell 0.2 percent.
About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and broader S&P each fell 0.2 percent to 20,781.54 and 2,362.78, respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.3 percent.
The Dow on Friday hit its 11th straight record finish, dizzy heights that may be hard to maintain. All three major indices barely scraped to a positive finish Friday, a possible sign of flagging momentum.
“The notion that the market is due for a pullback is not a novel one nor is the understanding that the market continues to defy that notion,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.
In addition, “the idea that tax reform is going to happen this year is the carrot that keeps dangling in front of buyers who remain unafraid for the most part of getting hit by a stick of any kind.”
Among the Dow’s biggest losers on Monday were consumer goods conglomerate Procter & Gamble Co, down 0.7 percent, Microsoft, which fell 0.8 percent, and McDonald’s, trading 0.7 percent lower.
Auction house Sotheby’s saw shares rising 9.8 percent, however, after posting estimates-beating earnings.
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