NEW YORK, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded on a downbeat note on Wednesday as a decline in Apple shares coupled with the pullback in major bank shares weighed on the market.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 87.76 points, or 0.35 percent, to 25,198.73. The S&P 500 was down 9.19 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,712.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 32.34 points, or 0.45 percent, to 7,168.53.
All three major indices erased their early gains, with the Dow giving up more than 200-points increase.
Apple shares dropped about 2.7 percent at midday, breaking below its 200-day moving average, a key technical level. The stock was downgraded Wednesday by a Guggenheim Partners analyst who predicted a 5 percent decline in iPhone sales in 2019.
Major U.S. financial stocks declined after the report that Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters said the Trump administration's efforts to curb banking regulations "will come to an end."
Shares of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase slid 1.77 percent and 1.49 percent, respectively, around midday.
The financials sector traded about 0.8 percent lower, leading the laggards in the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors.
Wall Street also kept a close eye on the inflation data.
U.S. Consumer Price Index increased 0.3 percent in October after rising 0.1 percent in September, amid gains in the cost of gas, rent and used vehicles, the Department of Labor reported Wednesday.
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in October following a 0.1-percent increase in September. The yearly increase in the so-called core rate, a figure closely watched by economists, dipped to 2.1 percent from 2.2 percent, the smallest increase since April, according to the report.
With a recent pullback in oil prices, consumer inflation could ease for a bit, which would allow the Federal Reserve to proceed with its strategy of gradually raising U.S. interest rates, experts noted. Enditem
