Wall Street ends mostly lower, led by finance

US stock indices closed the third session of this week mostly lower but still near record highs, hurt by finance and AT&T as the earnings season for the third quarter starts in earnest. 

Earlier US data showed unemployment claims fell more than expected last week, as producers prices grew 0.4% in line with expectations in September, as core prices accelerated to 0.4% beyond forecasts. 

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that tax reform plans aim to cut taxes on the middle class, while asserting his confidence in these reforms and expounding on President Donald Trump's plan to cut corporate taxes to 20% to prop up US competitiveness, adding that there hasn't been a final decision yet of whether to keep or sack the current Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. 

Federal Open Market Committee member Lael Brainard participated in a panel discussion about monetary policy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in Washington DC, while Jerome Powell delivered a speech titled "Prospects for Emerging Market Economies in a Normalizing Global Economy" at the Institute of International Finance Annual Membership Meeting, in Washington DC as well.

US president Donald Trump signed a new law related to the healthcare law known as Obamacare, in order to cut regulations on the system and allow small business to form alliances, before Trump asserted anew on the impending "massive tax cuts and many options available to the US consumer".

Dow Jones shed 0.14%, or 31.88 points to 22,84.01, while Standard and Poor's 500 declined 0.17%, or 4.31 points to 2,550.93, as NASDAQ Composite dipped 0.18%, or 12.04 points to 6,591.51. 

Gold futures due on December 16 rose 0.51% to $1,295.50 an ounce from the opening of $1,288.90, while the dollar index inched up 0.08% to 93.09 from the opening of 93.01. 

Otherwise, US crude futures due on November 15 slid 1.21% to $50.68 a barrel from the opening of $51.30, while Brent crude futures due on December 15 dropped 0.98% to $56.38 a barrel from the opening of $56.94.