US stocks gave up on recent gains overnight after a three-day runup on concerns that the momentum was overextended despite the latest round of solid economic data.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 8 points to 9,784. The S&P500 Index slipped 3 points to 1,065 and the NASDAQ fell 6 points to 2,127.
Turn to economic news: The Philadelphia Fed index showed business activity in the Mid-Atlantic states rose to 14.1 in September from 4.2 previously.
The Commerce Department said housing starts rose 1.5 per cent to an annual unit rate of 598,000 from a revised 589,000 in July.
The Labour Department reports new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to 545,000 from a revised 557,000 in the previous week.
In company news: Shares of American Airlines parent AMR Corp (NYSE:AMR) rose 19.73% to US$8.80 after the company said it had raised US$2.9 billion and would shift flying to more profitable routes.
However shares in FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX) slid 2.23% to US$76.46 after the shipping company reported first-quarter earnings that fell 53% on the year before. The company also said it was planning rate increases to offset falling surcharge revenue.
Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) shares fell 2.76% to US$21.52 as the software maker reported weaker quarterly revenue that missed forecasts and also reported higher quarterly earnings of 30 cents per share – in line with expectations.
And shares of Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE:TM) rose 0.18% to US$82.61 overnight after the company announced a US$1 billion marketing campaign to boost vehicle sales in the fourth quarter.
Checking the NASDAQ Top 100: Illumina made the most gains overnight adding 5.88% to US$40.35. Hansen Natural and Genzyme also advanced. On the downside, Maxim Integrated fell 6.47% to US$18.06, while Nvidia and Lam Research also sank lower.
