NEW YORK, May 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks fluctuated dramatically for the week as investor sentiment was dominated by the country's political uncertainties.
U.S. stocks rallied earlier this week on hopes of tax reform plan, with the S&P and Nasdaq setting new closing records earlier in the week.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks took a hit, with all three major indices recording their worst day so far this year, as latest turmoil in Washington triggered market concerns on whether the Trump administration could continue to push its reform agenda.
The White House on Tuesday pushed back against a new wave of media allegations that Trump might have tried to obstruct justice by asking then FBI Director James Comey to end a probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Investors have been shocked by the news and worried Trump's ability to deliver on business-friendly policies.
"The market is responding to the probability that tax reform, infrastructure spending, healthcare reform and trade deals might not occur," Brendan Ahern, chief investment officer of Krane Funds Advisors, told Xinhua.
However, U.S. stocks rebounded from the biggest selloff this year in the last two sessions of the week, as Wall Street believed that market concerns on Trump' s ability might have been exaggerated.
Meanwhile, the first quarter earnings season has also been in focus. The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 15.2 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 7.2 percent.
On the economic front, in the week ending May 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 232,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised level.
The 4-week moving average was 240,750, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 243,500.
U.S. industrial production advanced one percent in April, the largest monthly gain since February 2014 and topping market estimates.
U.S. privately-owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,172,000, well below market expectation. This is 2.6 percent below the revised March estimate of 1,203,000, but is 0.7 percent above the April 2016 rate of 1,164,000.
Led by a decline in multifamily production, nationwide housing starts fell 2.6 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units.
For the week, all three major indices saw modest losses, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq going down 0.4 percent, 0.4 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
