A late rally wasn't enough to lift the benchmark US equity indices into positive territory - Dow down -83-points or -0.34%, with the latest stumble pushing the index back into negative territory for the year (down -0.22%) The broader S&P500 fell -0.57% and back below its 100-day moving average, with consumer staples, real estate and technology shares leading the losses. Financials (up +1.5%) and Energy were the only primary sectors to advance. The technology-centric NASDAQ shed -0.78%. The late rally came after Bloomberg reported that President Trump has been advised that he was not a target of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe. Amazon gained +1.9% after chief executive officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos disclosed in his annual letter to shareholders that the Amazon Prime subscription programme now had over >100M members worldwide. However, Apple fell -2.8%, woith traders citing a soft update from Taiwan Semiconductor - a key partner to Apple - that saw the chipmaker lower their revenue forecast for the second quarter. Some suggested Taiwan Semiconductor's soft revenue outlook was due to slowing iPhone sales.
