While you were sleeping: UPDATED Stocks languish as Wall St stays in holding pattern

Wall Street slipped, as did US Treasuries, as investors prepared for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates when they gather next week.

Traders are pricing in a 98% chance of a hike, according to Bloomberg.

Wall Street weakened. At the close trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 29.58 points, or 0.1% to 20,924.76.

The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.3% to 5833.93 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index eased 0.3% to 2368.39.

US Treasuries also fell, pushing yields on the 10-year note nearly two basis points higher to 2.511% from 2.494%.

In the Dow, declines in shares of Verizon and those of Caterpillar, down 1% and 0.7% respectively, outweighed gains in shares of Boeing and those Johnson & Johnson, up 0.6% each.

Energy stocks including Chevron fell.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih says it's premature to consider whether an agreement to cut global oil output should be continued into the second half of the year, Reuters reported, citing comments made at the CERAWeek industry conference in Houston.

Healthcare stocks hit
US President Donald Trump hit healthcare stocks such as Pfizer, which traded 0.6% weaker, when he sent a tweet saying he's "working on a new system where there will be competition in the drug industry."

Shares of Snap, the owner of Snapchat, sank in their fourth day of trading. The stock traded 9.3% weaker and have fallen 20% since listing.

Aegis Capital analyst Victor Anthony, who rates the shares a hold, expressed concern on a continuing deceleration in the company's daily active user growth so far in 2017, according to Bloomberg.

A Commerce Department report shows the US trade deficit jumped 9.6% to $US48.5 billion in January, the highest level since March 2012. When adjusted for inflation, the trade deficit widened to $US65.3 billion from $US62.0 billion in December.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the session with a slide of 0.3% from the previous close, as shares of drug makers fell. The UK's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.2%, while France's CAC 40 Index shed 0.4%. Germany's DAX Index added almost 0.1%.

Shares of Switzerland's Lindt & Spruengli rose 1.1% after the chocolate maker said it expects 2017 organic sales growth to be "broadly in line" with that of the previous year, putting it at the lower end of its longer-term target for 6-8 %.

Lindt posted organic, or like-for-like, sales growth of 6% in its 2016 financial year.

"For the 2017 financial year, the group expects sales growth to be broadly in line with the previous year, and a further improvement in the operating margin," the company says.

(BusinessDesk)