LIVE MARKETS-Wall Street stocks finish lower as tech, private equity firms fall

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

WALL STREET STOCKS FINISH LOWER AS TECH, PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS FALL

Major U.S. stock indexes ended lower on Thursday, with technology shares including Apple AAPL.O declining, and shares of private equity firms also falling.

Apple closed down 1.4%.

Private equity companies fell after Blue Owl Capital's OWL.N decision to sell $1.4 billion in assets and freeze redemptions at one of its funds to manage debt and return capital. Blue Owl ended down 5.9%. Shares of Apollo Global Management APO.N were down 5.2%.

Shares of Walmart WMT.O finished 1.4% lower after trading higher earlier in the session. The retailer's new chief executive gave a conservative fiscal 2027 forecast, while the company also reported online demand from U.S. customers looking for quick deliveries bolstered revenue in the holiday quarter.

The S&P 500 industrials index .SPLRCI, however, ended up 0.8%, managing another record closing high, and energy .SPNY hit a record intraday high before paring gains. Energy finished up 0.6% following gains in oil prices tied to escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.

Here is the closing market snapshot:

(Caroline Valetkevitch)

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

UBS DOWNGRADES COMMUNICATION SERVICES, UPGRADES INDUSTRIALS CLICK HERE

POTENTIAL US-IRAN CONFLICT MAY BE COMPLETELY UNDERPRICED CLICK HERE

DISOBEDIENT DATA: JOBLESS CLAIMS DIP, GOODS TRADE GAP HITS RECORD, PENDING HOME SALES SLIP CLICK HERE

US STOCKS EDGE LOWER BUT WALMART GAINS EARLY CLICK HERE

'AI IS NOT COMING' FOR CHARLES RIVER, RATHER COULD BENEFIT THE COMPANY, BARCLAYS SAYS CLICK HERE

ENERGY SECTOR RUNNING HOT, MAYBE TOO HOT? CLICK HERE

EURO, EURO, ON THE WALL... WHO'S THE 'BEST' PRESIDENT OF THEM ALL? CLICK HERE

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN FOR THE U.S. DOLLAR CLICK HERE

'THE DECADE OF THE ROBOT’; BARCLAYS SEES PHYSICAL AI NEAR INFLECTION POINT CLICK HERE

UTILITIES AND MINERS DRAG, NESTLE DRIVES ZURICH TO NEW RECORD CLICK HERE

BEFORE THE BELL: EUROPEAN FUTURES MIXED, AS EARNINGS DRIVE MOVERS CLICK HERE

ASIA HOLIDAYS AS US, IRAN WORK TO AVERT CONFLICT CLICK HERE