US stocks dropped after benchmark indexes closed at record highs, with energy shares dropping

US stocks dropped after benchmark indexes closed at record highs, with energy shares dropping and the European Central Bank saying that it would wait until the next quarter before considering additional stimulus measures.

According to Bloomberg:

• the Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 0.3% to 2,068.42
  
• Dow dropped 0.3% or 53.67 points to 17,858.95
  
• trading in the S&P 500 companies was around 10% below the 30-day average for this time of day.

Senior market strategist at Voya Investment Management LLC, Karyn Cavanaugh said, “Draghi’s going to have to start doing some bond-buying if they want to get out of the malaise they’re in. I think it’ll eventually be good news and QE will have to happen. The writing is on the wall.”

Equities dropped as Mario Draghi, ECB president said that policy makers will wait until next quarter before assessing whether additional stimulus measures were required. His comments dampened speculations that the central bank was poised to start a program of the sovereign-debt purchases called quantitative easing or QE.

Chief market strategist at CMC Markets, Colin Cieszynski was quoted by Market Watch as having said, “Speculation that ECB president Draghi would ride in and save the day was running so high this morning that the DAX touched an all-time high just before the press conference started. Attitudes quickly reversed course.”

Energy companies dropped 1.3% reversing the gains of three days with oil slipping as much as 1.9%. Newfield Exploration Co. and Ensco Plc lost more than 3% and Pioneer Natural Resources dropped 3.5%.