Wall Street sulks on trade war angst; DJIA is on pace for a slight weekly gain of 0.1%

US benchmarks underperformed and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended in the red for the second day in a row, struck by a softer than expected US CPI reading as well. Performances were undermined trade war angst creeping back into the mix now that the key US data event has past and following continuous antagonistic Tweets and comments through various media channels hitting the markets.

As a result, the DJIA ended down 43.68 points, or 0.2%, at 26,004.83, marking its first back-to-back loss this month, while the S&P 500 index lost 5.88 points, or 0.2%, to close at 2,879.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index also fell, by 29.85 points, or 0.4%, to 7,792.72. In summary to where the indexes are at this week, the Dow is on pace for a slight weekly gain of 0.1%, the S&P 500 is on track for a 0.2% rise, and the Nasdaq is looking at a 0.7% weekly climb.

• Trade and global economic risks doing the rounds on Twitter

U.S. data

"US May CPI data was a touch softer than expected with the headline rate easing to 1.8% y/y (last: 2.0%, mkt: 1.9%) and core ticking down to 2.0% y/y (last: 2.1%, mkt: 2.1%). It was the usual mix of weakness in goods prices offsetting firmer services prices. Used car prices continued to drag as strength from late last year unwinds. The undershoot in inflation and the drag it transmits to inflation expectations is at the heart of the review and debate of optimising the monetary policy framework," analysts at ANZ Bank explained. 

DJIA levels

For the DJIA, the technical outlook is sideways with the index remaining above the key 61.8% Fibo retracement level of April to June swing highs and lows, sulking below 78.6% mark in the 26200s with a confluence of the 12th April gap the prior day. On the flipside, the 20-D EMA is located just below the 50% Fibo of the recent daily range guarding a run towards the 200 D EMA and then the 25200 level, as being around the 11th March swing lows. On a break of 25000, bears can look towards 24500s and then 50% of the upside run made at the end of Dec at 24150.