Investing.com – Wall Street traded with mixed signs on Wednesday as market players wait for developments on the new healthcare policy and its impact on U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to move forward with other fiscal policies, while the Dow was under pressure from disappointing earnings from Nike and investors also digested the latest government data on U.S. crude stockpiles
At 12:38PM ET (16:38GMT), the Dow Jones fell 29 points, or 0.14%, the S&P 500 inched up 1 point, or 0.04%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 11 points, or 0.20%.
Investors’ nerves are on edge ahead of the vote in Congress on Thursday to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with concerns that opposition from 26 Republican representatives may derail the new health care bill.
With Trump having promised to deal with healthcare before moving on to other issues such as tax reform government spending and deregulation, market players have become worried that the health care bill, at worst, shows that campaign promises may not be as quick to complete as hoped and, at the very least, that the implementation of promised fiscal policies continues to be delayed.
Market participants also digested a bigger-than-expected build in U.S. crude inventories earlier on Wednesday, sending oil prices to session lows.
Investors were also looking ahead to the technical committee meeting this weekend that will discuss compliance on agreed production cuts between major oil producers.
Reports pointed to the fact that discussion of extending the agreement would also take place with some suggestion that Saudi Arabia will require Iran to join in an output freeze as part of any deal on an extension.
U.S. crude futures lost 1.08% to $47.72 by 12:39PM ET (16:39GMT), while Brent oil traded down 1.22% to $50.34.
Also released on Wednesday, a report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed that existing home sales fell more than expected in February.
However, NAR pointed out that the 3.7% decline from January came after sales had kicked off the year with the biggest increase in nearly a decade and that existing home sales were still up no less than 5.4% year-on-year.
In company news, Nike (NYSE:NKE) led decliners on the Dow with losses of more than 6% as the sportswear retailer missed on revenue due to pressure from competitors.
In positive earnings, FedEx (NYSE:FDX) gained nearly 2% as the global delivery company provided a positive outlook on margins despite missing the consensus on quarterly profit.
Outside of earnings, Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD) crashed more than 16% as the troubled department store chain admitted that it had “substantial doubts” about its future as a company.
PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) saw its improved €22.4 billion ($24.1 billion) takeover offer rejected by Akzo Nobel, although the Dutch firm was reportedly under pressure to begin talks in earnest.
Elsewhere, market players were keeping an eye on developments in London after what was being treated by Scotland Yard as a “terrorist incident” near the U.K. parliament.
An alleged gunman was reportedly shot after stabbing a police officer inside the government building, while several others were reported injured on Westminster Bridge alongside the U.K.’s parliament.
Sterling had hit intraday lows against the dollar and euro as the news hit the wires, but had since recovered positions.