NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are edging lower Thursday as the market’s big burst following Donald Trump’s election continues to cool.
The S&P 500 was down 0.3% in afternoon trading, though still near its all-time high set on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 85 points, or 0.2%, as of 2:56 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.
Cisco Systems' 2.1% drop weighed on the market, even though the tech giant reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors may have been looking for it to raise its financial forecasts more, analysts suggested.
The stock market broadly has been rising faster than corporate profits, which has raised criticism from skeptics that it's gotten too expensive.
Super Micro Computer, which has been one of the biggest winners of the artificial-intelligence boom, tumbled 11.3% for one of the worst losses in the S&P 500 after telling U.S. regulators it needs more time to file its financial statements for the latest quarter, which ended in September.
The server maker's stock has been struggling recently, particularly after Ernst & Young resigned as its public accounting firm. A special committee of the company's board has since said that a three-month investigation found “no evidence of fraud or misconduct on the part of management or the Board of Directors.”
Some of the stocks that have felt the biggest bump from Trump's election also lost momentum. Tesla fell 5.1% and was on track for just its second loss since Election Day. It's run by Elon Musk, who has become a close Trump ally.
Smaller stocks also lagged the rest of the market, and the Russell 2000 index of small stocks was down 0.9%. It's a turnaround from the election's immediate aftermath, when the thought was that an “America First” president would benefit companies that do business domestically over big multinationals that could be hurt by tariffs and trade wars.
Even though Republicans have swept control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, which could give them more leeway to push through their policies, “promises made on the campaign trail may not be implemented immediately, with final legislation likely to be a pared-down version of the original proposals,” according to Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer, Americas, at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Helping to keep Wall Street's losses in check was The Walt Disney Co., which jumped 6.9% after the entertainment giant reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Robert Iger credited improved profits at its streaming businesses and strong box-office results for its movies, including “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” among other things.