Dow on track to break its 10-day record run

By Tanya Agrawal

REUTERS - The Dow Jones Industrial Average was on track to break its 10-day record-setting streak on Friday, as investors reassessed the "Trump rally" after recent comments suggested that pro-growth policies might take longer to be implemented.

U.S. markets are trading at record levels since the U.S. election, spurred by President Donald Trump's promises of tax reforms, reduced regulations and increased infrastructure spending.

But, with Trump giving scant detail on his plans - including one on Thursday to bring millions of jobs back to the United States - markets have recently traded in a tight range.

The benchmark S&P 500 index has not registered a move of at least one percent in either direction since Dec. 7.

 

"There is an expectation that the tax cuts promised by the new administration may not be as large or as early as expected," said Mohannad Aama, managing director at Beam Capital Management in New York.

"Investors had priced in the most rosy outlook for the market under the Trump administrations and now their reality is slowly changing as they realize a lot of the new policies will take time and maybe the market has run up too fast too soon."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that any policy steps would probably have only a limited impact this year. Investor will likely get more clarity on Trump's plan on Tuesday, when he addresses a joint session of Congress.

Still, the Dow and the S&P were on track to end the week higher, with the Nasdaq set to register a loss.

At 10:52 a.m. ET (1552 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was down 43.87 points, or 0.21 percent, at 20,766.45.

The S&P 500 was down 5.64 points, or 0.23 percent, at 2,358.17.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 16.41 points, or 0.28 percent, at 5,819.10.

Six of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with the financial index's 1.06 percent fall leading the decliners.

Wells Fargo fell 1.77 percent and weighed the most on the S&P, while Goldman Sachs' 1.75 percent drop pulled down the Dow.

Oil prices were down about 1 percent after U.S. crude inventories rose for a seventh week, showing the market is still struggling to ease oversupply.

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell 7.87 percent to $22.71 after the company cut its full-year profit forecast.

Baidu was down 4.05 percent at $177.09 as the internet search giant's revenue fell for a second straight quarter. The stock was among the biggest drags on the Nasdaq.

J.C. Penney fell 9.77 percent to $6.27 after the department store operator reported a bigger-than-expected drop in same-store sales for the holiday quarter.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,658 to 1,134. On the Nasdaq, 1,733 issues fell and 872 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed 22 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 38 new lows.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Sriraj kalluvila)