US stocks dip as election day voting kicks off

NEW YORK: ‘Wall Street stocks dipped in early trading Tuesday as Americans began to cast their ballots to settle a contentious US presidential race that polls suggest will be close.The early losses followed a more than 2 percent surge in US stocks Monday as the S&P 500 broke a nine-day losing streak on increased confidence in Democrat Hillary Clinton’s chances of victory.Clinton is a known quantity politically compared to Republican rival Donald Trump, who is widely seen as unpredictable, and markets fear a Trump victory could cast numerous policies in doubt. The statistics website FiveThirtyEight has given Clinton about a 71 percent chance of winning.”We know what Wall Street wants,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare. “We also know, based on the scope of Monday’s rally, that the fallout could be extreme if Wall Street doesn’t get what it wants.”About 45 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 18,215.98, down 0.2 percent.The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.3 percent to 2,124.71, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.4 percent to 5,148.23.CVS Health slumped 14.0 percent after it trimmed its profit forecast, citing slowing prescription growth in the overall market as well as seasonal sluggishness. Rival Walgreens Boots Alliance lost 3.5 percent.Valeant Pharmaceuticals International sank 20.8 percent as it reported a $1.2 billion loss in the third quarter after writing down the value of some assets by more than $1 billion.Priceline surged 5.7 percent as it reported third-quarter revenues of $3.7 billion, up nearly 19 percent from the year-ago period. Chief executive Jeffery Boyd described market conditions as “favorable.”Car-rental giant Hertz plunged 50.5 percent as it reported a 35.8 percent decline in third-quarter net income to $134 million as rental volumes disappointed and fell short of its cost-cutting targets. Rival Avis Budget Group plummeted 14.4 percent.