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Stocks, Dollar Stumble; Gold Miners Rally, Arista Unravels

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Stocks fell at Tuesday's open and remained lower through the day as comments made in London and New York took a toll on the day's trade.

The Nasdaq dropped 0.6%. The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% apiece.  Small caps took harder hits than the overall market, leaving the Russell 2000 down 1.4%.

U.S. traders took some cues from London, where stocks dropped hard after Prime Minister Theresa May announced Britain would seek to renegotiate its trade agreements outside the European Union's single-market trade protocol.  The statement of fortified independence sent the pound to its biggest gain since 2008, while London's FTSE 100 equity index shed 1.5%. The CAC 40 in Paris slid 0.5%, while Frankfurt's DAX kept to a 0.1% decline.

In afternoon trade, 141 of IBD's 197 industry groups moved lower. Superregional banks fell furthest, trading lower after President-elect Donald Trump signaled opposition to a key piece of the GOP's tax strategy.

Comerica (CMA) was hardest hit in the group, down 7%. The Dallas-based bank reported fourth-quarter earnings above analyst targets. The stock had been holding steady just below a Jan. 5 high, but dropped to test support at its 10-week moving average. Regions Financial (RF) and SVB Financial Group (SIVB) fell more than 5% each.

IBD 50 stock Arista Networks (ANET) led the computer networking group to the day's second-worst loss among industries.  Shares fell 12% in huge trade after the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agency said it would reinstate an import ban on Arista switches pending further review. The tumble broke support at the stock's 10-week moving average in heavy trade and erased effectively all of its gain since clearing a flat base in November. Both moves are sell signals.

Some of the day's strongest moves came from gold miners, as a pullback in the dollar helped boost gold prices more than 1%. A long list of miners — including Anglogold Ashanti (AU), Sibanye Gold (SBGL) and IamGold (IAG) — gained more than 2%.

Noble Energy (NBL) topped the S&P 500, rallying 7% after agreeing to buy Clayton Williams Energy (CWEI) in a $2.7 billion deal. The deal gives Noble leases to 120,000 net acres in a key region of West Texas' prolific Permian Basin shale play, as well as a number of pipelines serving that region.  Noble is holding support in the fifth week of a flat consolidation. Clayton Williams shares spiked 40%, putting the stock just below its May 2014 high.

After the close, investors have an eye on earnings reports due out from Netflix (NFLX) and chip equipment maker ASML  Holding (ASML).

Also after the close, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is scheduled to speak at 6 p.m. ET.

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