The main US stock indexes have declined moderately amid a fall in pharmaceutical companies' shares caused by President Trump's tweet about a drop in drug prices.
The focus of the market was also the report of the Department of Commerce, which showed that the US trade deficit jumped to almost a 5-year high in January, as rising oil prices helped increase imports, suggesting that trade will again adversely affect economic growth in the first Quarter. According to the report, the trade deficit increased by 9.6% and amounted to $ 48.5 billion, which is the highest since March 2012. The trade balance deficit remained at $ 44.3 billion in December. Economists predicted an increase in the trade deficit to $ 48 billion in January. Given the inflation, the deficit rose to $ 65.3 billion from $ 62 billion in December. Both exports and imports, adjusted for inflation, were the highest in January.
In addition, the data showed that the index of economic optimism in the US, calculated by the newspaper Investor's Business Daily and the research firm TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics, declined in March by 1.1 points, to 55.3 points. Experts expected that the index will increase to 57.1 points from 56.4 points in February.
Components of the DOW index finished trading mostly in the red (21 out of 30). More shares fell shares Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ, -1.29%). The leader of growth was the shares of The Boeing Company (BA, + 0.57%).
Almost all sectors of the S & P index recorded a decline. The health sector fell most (-0.9%). The growth leader was the conglomerate sector (+ 0.1%).
At closing:
Dow -0.14% 20.924.35 -29.99
Nasdaq -0.26% 5,833.93 -15.25
S & P -0.29% 2,368.36 -6.95