Wall Street pauses after recent surge, Walgreens slides on profit warning

A three-day surge in U.S. stocks stalled on Tuesday, as a downbeat forecast from drugstore chain Walgreens Boots hit the pharma sector and economic data did little to ease growth concerns.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was dragged down by a 12.2% slump in Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc after the company cut its 2019 profit growth forecast and reported a quarterly profit that missed analysts` estimates.

The S&P consumer staples index was down 0.7%, leading declines among nine of the 11 major S&P sectors that were down. Rival CVS Health Corp fell 3%, while shares of several drug wholesalers also took a hit.

Data showed new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods slipped in February and shipments were flat.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, or core capital goods orders, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, fell 0.1%. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast it to remain unchanged.

The data comes on the heels of a survey showing a surprise rebound in China`s manufacturing activity and better-than-expected U.S. numbers, which drove the S&P 500 to near six-month highs on Monday.

"We`ve gotten to a place and time where we are going to need new evidence to move this market higher," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.

"Incrementally better-than-expected data might move this market higher, which was not the case in today`s durable goods number."

At 12:43 p.m. ET, the Dow was down 106.92 points, or 0.41%, at 26,151.50 and the S&P 500 was down 3.47 points, or 0.12%, at 2,863.72.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 4.89 points, or 0.06%, at 7,833.80, boosted by a 2.8% jump in Facebook Inc.

Despite coming under pressure, the S&P 500 is 2.4% away from a record closing high hit in late September, held back by trade uncertainties, the Federal Reserve`s plans to end monetary policy tightening, Britain`s chaotic exit from the European Union and concerns about corporate profit growth.

With the first-quarter corporate earnings reporting season about two weeks away, investors are bracing for what may be the first U.S. profit decline since 2016. Analysts expect quarterly earnings to fall 2%, according to Refinitiv data.

Airline stocks got a lift from Delta Air Lines Inc`s better-than-expected first-quarter profit forecast. Its shares jumped 6.5%, while the Dow Jones US Airlines index was up 3.2%.

Dow Inc was up 4.7% in its stock market debut following the spin off from DowDuPont.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.71-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.30-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 31 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 44 new highs and 33 new lows.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)