Wall Street retraces early losses to end the day slightly lower

Major equity indexes in the United States started the day on a negative note following the Labor Day weekend and failed to move back into the positive territory as investors are waiting for fresh development on NAFTA negotiations and the U.S. - China trade talks.

"The things that were on the market's radar last week, in a vacuum of other news, have taken center stage. The market is still in the first or second gear of getting to normal after the summer," Michael Antonelli, managing director of institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee, told Reuters.

After Barclay's downgraded the telecommunication giant Verizon's stock grade on Monday, the company's shares lost more than 2% and the S&P 500 Telecom Services Index dropped 1.12% to become the worst performing sector of the day. In the meantime, another 1% decline in the price of the barrel of West Texas Intermediate weighed on the S&P 500 Energy Index, which finished the day 0.3% lower.

In the meantime, the S&P 500 Information Technology Index failed to take advantage of the fact that Amazon's market cap hit the $1 trillion mark on Tuesday and closed 0.3% as it was dragged by the dismal performance of Facebook shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 11.60 points, or 0.04%, to 25,953.22, the S&P 500 erased 4.73 points, or 0.16%, to 2,896.79 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 18.31 points, or 0.23%, to 8,091.23.

DJIA technical outlook via FXStreet Chief Analyst Valeria Bednarik

The Dow daily chart indicates that buyers appeared on an approach to a firmly bullish 20 DMA, a few points below the intraday low of 25,804. Moving averages maintain their upward strength, all of them below the current level, although technical indicators continue easing within positive levels, the Momentum now pretty much flat in neutral readings and the RSI aiming modestly lower at around 61, rather reflecting the latest retracement than anticipating additional declines ahead.

Shorter term, and according to the 4 hours chart, the index retains the neutral-to-bearish stance seen on the previous updates, as the index remains unable to surpass a mild-bearish 20 SMA, trading a few pips below it, while technical indicators remain attached to their midlines with no clear directional strength. 

Support levels:  25,926 25,877 25,828

Resistance levels:25,989 26,033 26,087