Major US stock indexes finished trading in negative territory

Major US stock indexes fell modestly as investors took profits after a record of the day on Wall Street, who led the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 21,000 for the first time in history.

Further drop in the indices held back positive data on the US labor market. According to the US Department of Labor, the number of new applications for unemployment benefits for the week that ended Feb. 25 fell to 1900 and amounted to 223000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 31, 1973, when he was 222000. Level the previous week was revised downward for 2000 from 244,000 to 242,000. The moving average for 4 weeks was 234250. was recorded a decrease of 6,250 from the revised average of the previous week. This is the lowest level of the average April 14, 1973, when it amounted to 232750. The average value of the previous week was revised downward from 241,000 to 240.500.

In addition, it became known that the index of business activity in New York deteriorated significantly following February, confounding analysts' expectations, and reached its lowest level since October 2016. According to the ISM New York, the index assesses the economic conditions in the manufacturing sector and services for the companies listed in New York, declined to 51.3 in February from 57.7 in January. Economists had forecast that the index was 58.1 points.

Oil prices fell more than 2% to 3-week low. The cause of this trend was the increase in oil inventories in the US to a record high, as well as news that the volume of oil production in Russia remained unchanged in February. In addition, the pressure on prices exerted the strengthening of the American currency.

DOW index components ended the day mostly in negative territory (22 of 30). Most remaining shares fell Caterpillar Inc. (CAT, -4.32%). leaders of growth were shares of The Home Depot, Inc. (HD, + 0.87%).

Almost all sectors of the S & P index registered a decline. conglomerates (-1.6%) sectors fell most. Increasing demonstrated only utilities sector (+ 0.2%).

At the close:

Dow -0.55% 20,999.54 -116.01

Nasdaq -0.73% 5,861.22 -42.81

S & P -0.60% 2,381.59 -14.37