Wall Street closed in red as Russian sanctions overshadow earnings

Although earlier today the US stocks opened in green territories and advanced for the fifth time in six days amid optimism over corporate earnings it plummeted throughout the closing session after new sanctions were announced.

In fact President Barack Obama announced new sanctions against Russia and warned its actions in Ukraine are “setting back decades of progress,” snuffing out earlier gains led by telephone stocks.

However Merck & Co. rose 1.5 percent and Masco Corp. (MAS), a maker of faucets and kitchen cabinets, jumped 8.6 percent after reporting earnings that topped analysts’ projections.

While that Windstream Holdings Inc. surged 24 percent after saying it plans to spin off certain telecommunications network assets into a real estate investment trust.

Otherwise today country’s consumer confidence, which is released on a monthly basis, assessing consumer sentiment regarding business conditions, employment and personal income rose to the highest level since October 2007.

In fact the New York-based private research group revealed today that the Conference Board’s index of U.S. consumer confidence increased to 90.9 in July from 86.4 a month earlier; above the market projected reading of 85.5.

Accordingly indicating once again that the constant enhancement throughout business conditions, employment and personal income continue on supporting moderate growth and sustaining the recovery of the country.

Whereas earlier today another report showed that home prices rose in the 12 months ended in May at the slowest pace in more than a year as the S&P/CS Index, which measures the value of the residential real estate market in 20 metropolitan regions across the United States, came in lower in May at -0.31% from a prior revised 0.06% from 0.19%; below the projected 0.30%

Accordingly:

-The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed by 0.42% to 16912.11

-The S&P 500 Index shed by 0.45% to 1969.95

-The NASDAQ Composite shed by 0.05% to 4442.70. As of 16:16 p.m.