Slight drops in US stocks as markets await next White House move

The US markets closed slightly lower on a quieter day than in recent times. The fall comes after a tumultuous few weeks, with shares reacting badly to US President Donald Trump's controversial temporary immigration ban, then rallying again on the news that the Dodd-Frank regulation would be rolled back under the current administration.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, or 4.86 points, closing at 2,292.56, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 19.04 points lower to 20,052.42.

Diane Jaffee, a senior portfolio manager at TCW, was quoted by MarketWatch as saying that since the day did not have any big news, everything "resembles a pause after a rally".

She added: "But the odds of policy mistakes coming from the White House administration have risen."

On Friday (3 February), stocks once again rose above the 20,000 mark due to Trump's executive order on rolling back Dodd-Frank. Last week he also backed up his anti-regulation rhetoric with an executive order saying that any new regulation had to be accompanied by two old ones being scrapped.

A group of tech companies also filed an amicus brief in federal court on Monday (6 February) stating their opposition to Trump's travel ban. The larger ones saw small share reductions: Apple Inc were down 0.01%; Google, -0.19%; Microsoft, -0.06%; and Facebook, -0.02%.