Wall Street closes slightly lower as investors digest political developments in US

After starting the day lower, major equity indexes in the U.S. gained traction in the second half of the session as investors cheered the firing of Steve Bannon, one of the US President Donald Trump's chief strategists, who was being criticized for having anti-Semitic and white nationalist sentiments.

However, indexes struggled to preserve their gains later in the session as today's development from the White House was seen as another factor that could delay the delivery of market-relevant policy changes such as the tax-reform and the increased infrastructure spending. 

"There are still question marks on what this means and what other shoes are to drop, like other personnel of note. This is noteworthy, but it's not necessarily economic and therefore the market is viewing it as a positive but only marginally positive, as it doesn't put money in anybody's pocket in the way tax reform would" said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, told Reuters.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 76.22 points, to close the day 0.35% lower at 21,674.51 points. The S&P 500 dropped 2.5 points, or 0.1%, to 2,427.00 and the Nasdaq Composite erased 5.39 points, or 0.09%, to 6,216.53.

Headlines from the U.S. session

• U.S. economic data mixed this week - Wells Fargo
• US Dollar sticks to modest weekly gains above 93
• Oil: WTI jumps more than 3%, erases weekly losses
• US: Key events and numbers for next week - Danske Bank
• WH Spokesperson Sanders: Bannon's last day is today - Reuters
• US Treasuries: Yields turn positive after news on Trump advisor Bannon
• Trump tells aides he has decided to remove Stephen Bannon - NY Times
• NY Fed: GDP Nowcast stands at 2.1% for Q3 of 2017
• US: Consumer confidence rose in first half of August to its highest level since Jan. - UoM