US stocks close lower amid mixed data

New York, June 22 (IANS) US stocks ended slightly lower as investors digested a batch of mixed data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday was down 34.04 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 26,719.13. The S&P 500 shed 3.72 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 2,950.46, Xinhua news agency reported. 

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 19.63 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 8,031.71.

Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded lower around market close, with the real estate sector down 1.1 per cent, leading the laggards.

Yet shares of CarMax rose nearly 3.2 per cent, after the US used-car retailer reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded market estimates. Its comparable-dealership sales also rose 9.5 per cent year on year.

On the economic front, existing-home sales rebounded 2.5 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34 million in May from the previous month, the National Association of Realtors said on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit Flash US Composite PMI Output Index dropped to 50.6 in June from 50.9 in May, according to British information provider IHS Markit.

The reading marks the weakest expansion of business activity for over three years, as the country's private sector output growth has been on the decline since February, due to "less favorable domestic economic conditions" and "a tendency for greater risk aversion."