Wall Street falls on dimmed stimulus hopes

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Stocks on Wall Street retreated in a choppy session Wednesday. Investors abandoned hope for a stimulus package before the presidential election after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sounded downbeat about the prospects for a quick deal.

And a mixed bag of earnings from the banking sector added to the gloom.

Gerber Kawasaki CEO Ross Gerber is very cautious about the market’s prospects:

“I just don’t see how the market can move higher until earnings recover, and that’s not going to be until next year.”

The Dow and S&P 500 lost about six-tenths percent. The Nasdaq shed eight-tenths percent.

Goldman Sachs shares edged higher after its quarterly profit nearly doubled. But disappointing results drove down shares of Bank of America and Wells Fargo more than 5%.

AMC Entertainment shares lost 16%. Its CEO told Reuters the theater operator may need to raise more capital through equity to get through the health crisis.

And shares of UnitedHealth declined even though the health insurer raised its profit forecast for the full year. The company said it was difficult to predict the pandemic’s fallout on its earnings.