Wall Street retreats at close

US shares have closed comfortably lower, as investors overlooked a batch of strong data.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 119.07 points, or 0.70%, to 16,818.09.

The broad-based S&P 500 gave up 12.62 points, or 0.64% to 1,949.99, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 18.32 points, or 0.42% to 4,350.36.

Markets faded late in the trading day on a bout of profit-taking after earlier eeking out steady gains amid a stronger outlook for the US economy.

Among a large batch of data released in the morning was a report that showed US new home sales had hit a post-crisis high, surging 17% compared to last year.

Also aiding optimism was news US consumer confidence had jumped to a six-year high, lifting to 85.2 in June from 82.2 the previous month.