US stocks end mostly down in first trading day of 2024
Wall Street stocks mostly closed lower on Tuesday, wrapping up the first trading day of 2024 with the tech-focused Nasdaq logging its worst day since late October. The Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 1.6 percent to end at 14,765.94, while the broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.6 percent at 4,742.83. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.1 percent to 37,715.04. "One of the concerns we have is that investors were extremely bullish going into this year. And we just think perhaps that was setting up for some disappointment," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset. "We expect a modest pullback," he added, noting "we just got a little overbought on the investor enthusiasm." While US stocks ended 2023 on a tepid note, major indices generally logged big gains for the year. Among individual companies, shares of tech giant Apple tumbled 3.6 percent on Tuesday after a downgrade by Barclays, which pointed to factors such as weakness in iPhone sales volume. There is also "geopolitical angst" after an Iranian warship entered the Red Sea, following the United States' destruction of three Houthi boats, noted Briefing.com. (AFP)