Dow Industrials Just Marked The First Tumble Of At Least 1% In 64 Sessions

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday closed with its first drop of at least 1%, snapping a streak that had run for more than 60 sessions. The Dow finished 274 points, or 1.2%, lower at 21,750, as the broader stock market faced its biggest selloff since last week's North Korea-fueled jitters. The blue-chip gauge's absence of down days of at least 1% was the longest since a 69-day streak ended Oct. 25, 1995, or about 22 years, according to WSJ Market Group Data. Thursday's fall for the Dow came as the broader market appeared to be fretting about a number of bearish factors, including a record-setting market that has been viewed as too rich and due for a pullback, concerns about the health of the economy and the Federal Reserve's comfort in normalizing interest rates amid levels of inflation that have run below their 2% target, considered indicative of a normally functioning economy. Heightened questions about President Donald Trump's ability to pass a raft of pro-growth policies amid the business world's fervent denouncement of his reaction to a white-supremacist rally also has helped to erode bullish sentiment. "Markets have been looking for an excuse to sell off for a few months. We may now have that excuse," said David Schiegoleit, managing director of investments at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management. "The most recent political discourse coming out of Washington adds further risk of the President's tax reform agenda being jeopardized. This would be a fundamental blow to stocks," he said. The S&P 500 index , meanwhile, ended down 1.5% at 2,430 and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.9% at 6,221.