Stocks Closed Lower ahead of Trump Inauguration

U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the Dow industrials falling a fifth straight session, as investors remained cautious a day ahead of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 72.32 points, or 0.37%, to 19,732.40. The S&P 500 was down 8.20 points, or 0.36%, to 2,263.69. The Nasdaq Composite fell 15.57 points, or 0.28%, to 5,540.08.

Oil futures rose Thursday after a report from the International Energy Agency confirmed a decline in output by OPEC members. February West Texas Intermediate crude rose by 29 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $51.37 a barrel. March Brent crude rose 24 cents, or 0.5%, to $54.16 a barrel.

American Express Co., the largest U.S. credit-card issuer by purchases, said fourth-quarter profit fell 8.2 percent. Net income dropped to $825 million, or 88 cents a share, from $899 million, or 89 cents, a year earlier.

IBM posted quarterly earnings and revenues above analyst estimates on Thursday. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $5.01, excluding items, and revenues of $21.77 billion. While earnings per share rose 4 percent from a year ago, revenues were down 1 percent, the company said.

Atlassian Corp. (TEAM) topped Wall Street estimates for the latest quarter but issued an earnings outlook that fell short of the consensus. The company reported adjusted fiscal second-quarter earnings of 9 cents a share on revenue of $148.9 million. For the third quarter, Atlassian sees adjusted earnings of about 6 cents a share on revenue of $155 million to $157 million.