S&P 500 falls for first time in four days

Wall Street slid for the first day in four as a sell-off in crude prices dragged shares of energy companies lower.

The S&P 500 finished the day 0.2 per cent lower at 2,292.54, led by a 0.9 per cent drop in shares of energy companies. Concerns that US drillers could offset a 1.2m barrels per day cut in crude output by Opec and certain non-Opec members like Russia, pushed oil lower. Industrials and technology were the only two sectors to finish the day in the green.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.1 per cent to 20,052.28, while the Nasdaq Composite edged lower by 0.1 per cent to 5,663.55.

The fall in US stocks was accompanied by a rally in so-called safe haven assets that investors flocked to amid uncertainty about the timing and extent of President Donald Trump’s promised stimulus measures.

Gold prices climbed as much as 1.2 per cent to $1,235.20 a troy ounce to its highest level since mid-November. Meanwhile yields on the US 10-year Treasury note, which move inversely to price, slid 5 basis points to 2.415 per cent. And the Japanese yen advanced more than 0.8 per cent against the US dollar.