Wall Street moves lower as quarterly earnings loom

By Noel Randewich

(Reuters) - Wall Street declined on Monday as gains in Microsoft and other technology stocks failed to offset a dip in Medtronic and other healthcare stocks.

The S&P healthcare index <.SPXHC> moved down 0.76 percent, weighed by a 3.6-percent slide in Medtronic after the medical device maker warned that its quarterly profit would be impacted after Hurricane Maria hit its operations in Puerto Rico.

The S&P 500 has rallied 14 percent in 2017, buoyed by strong company earnings and enthusiasm that President Donald Trump will cut corporate taxes.

JPMorgan Chase , Citigroup will report their profits on Thursday, kicking third-quarter reporting season into high gear as investors look for strong growth to justify pricey valuations.

 

"This is a nervous, unpopular bull market. If a company just meets earnings or - God forbid - misses earnings, the market is going to crush that particular stock," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Overall, earnings at S&P 500 companies are expected to have increased 4.8 percent last quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data, down from the double-digit growth recorded in the first two quarters of this year.

Nvidia rose 1.6 percent and the S&P 500 information technology index <.SPLRCT> added 0.3 percent, bringing its gain in 2017 to 28 percent.

At 3:01 pm ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> was down 0.08 percent at 22,755.17 points, while the S&P 500 <.SPX> had lost 0.18 percent to 2,544.83.

The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 0.13 percent to 6,581.67.

Shares of cinema stocks AMC Entertainment Holdings and Regal Entertainment fell more than 4 percent after domestic opening weekend ticket sales for science fiction sequel "Blade Runner 2049" fell short of expectations.

GE shares sank 4 percent after the conglomerate named a new CFO and said it gave activist investment firm Trian Fund Management a board seat.

Tesla fell 3.3 percent after pushing back the unveiling of its big rig truck to mid-November.

Viacom slipped 6.2 percent after Citigroup downgraded the stock to "sell", citing risks that pay-TV firms would stop carrying its channels.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.24-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.46-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.

(Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by James Dalgleish)