Wall Street Falls As Debt Talks Cast Shadow

Wall Street's main indexes ended lower on Wednesday as talks between the White House and Republican representatives on raising the US debt ceiling dragged on without a deal.

The lack of progress on raising the US government's US$31.4 trillion debt limit ahead of a June 1 deadline, with several rounds of inconclusive talks, has made investors edgier as the risk of a catastrophic default looms larger.

Democratic President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy's negotiators held what the White House called productive talks.

"Up until yesterday, investors have been very optimistic around the US debt ceiling resolution," said Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones. "But now as we get closer ... to the June 1st X-date, we are seeing some caution again.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.77 percent, to 32,800, the S&P 500 lost 0.73 percent, to 4,115 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.61 percent, to 12,484.

Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors ended in negative territory, with real estate falling the most. Energy was the lone sector gainer.

Federal Reserve policy was also in focus. Stocks held their declines after the release of minutes from the Fed's May 2-3 meeting, showing that Fed officials "generally agreed" last month that the need for further interest rate increases "had become less certain."

Investors expect the central bank to pause its aggressive rate hiking campaign at its June 13-14 meeting.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he is concerned about the lack of progress on inflation, and while skipping an interest rate hike at the central bank's meeting next month may be possible, an end to the hiking campaign is not likely.

“The economy is still doing OK, and there really is not, from the Fed’s perspective, a reason to back away from a tighter monetary policy,” said Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor and market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest Wealth Management.

In company news, Citigroupshares fell 3.1 percent as the bank scrapped a US$7 billion sale of its Mexican consumer unit Banamex and will list it instead. (Reuters)