Wall Street close the day in red on unending global tensions

The US local stock market closed in red territories after the downing of the passenger plane in Ukraine added to the global disapproval of Russian President Vladimir Putin and as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated.

In eastern Ukraine, fighting flared in Donetsk as international inspectors started to inspect the remains of the 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines disaster.

In the Middle East, Israeli jets, tanks and artillery continued to hit the Gaza Strip, despite an appeal for an immediate ceasefire after two weeks of fighting that has killed more than 500 people.

-The  Dow Jones Industrial Average   fell 0.28% or 48.45 points to 17051.73

-The  S&P 500 Index   fell 0.23% or 8.50 points to  1973.63

-The  NASDAQ   Composite Index fell 0.17% or 7.44 points to  4424.70   . As of 16:15 p.m. ET

The dollar gained against other global currencies and the 10-year Treasury yield fell 2 basis points to 2.467 percent.

Reynolds American fell after a Florida jury ruling that a business unit of the tobacco maker pay $23.6 billion in damages in the lung-cancer death of a smoker.

 Allergan shares gained after the drug developer said it would cut 1,500 jobs by the end of the year.

 Halliburton rose after the provider of oilfield services reported a better-than-expected gain in quarterly revenue.