* U.S. housing starts sluggish for second straight month
* World shares on track for second straight decline
* S&P 500 dips back below 3,000 mark
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) - A gauge of global stocks declined for a second straight session and U.S. Treasury yields fell as trade concerns again began to bubble and U.S. earnings season picked up steam.
On Wall Street, CSX Corp CSX.O was one of the biggest drags on the S&P 500. The railroad tumbled 10.44% after it reported quarterly earnings that missed expectations and cut its full-year revenue view as weakness in its trade-related intermodal business weighed. results come after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his threat to tax another $325 billion of Chinese goods on Tuesday, which sent stocks lower. In addition, the U.S. could also face Chinese sanctions, following a World Trade Organization ruling on Tuesday, further complicating trade talks between the two countries. stocks have eased the past two sessions, after a rally fueled by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut rates at the end of the month sent major averages to record levels, as earnings season has gotten off to a sluggish start.
"It's hard for this for this market to push up substantially without some resolution on trade," said Rick Meckler, partner, Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.
Big banks such as Citi C.N , JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) JPM.N and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) WFC.N have recorded drops in net interest margins, a sign low interest rates are hurting the bottom line.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) BAC.N shares were up 0.8% after it reported results on Wednesday and lowered its annual net interest income guidance. it is still early in what is expected to be a lackluster reporting season, the earnings growth rate for the second quarter now stands at 0.4%, according to Refinitiv data. Expectations were recently calling for a decline in S&P 500 results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 43.83 points, or 0.16%, to 27,291.8, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 8.42 points, or 0.28%, to 2,995.62 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 14.81 points, or 0.18%, to 8,207.99.
European shares were lower after holding near the unchanged mark in the earlier portion of trading on a mixed bag of corporate earnings. pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 0.32% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed 0.24%.
Along with the trade concerns, U.S. Treasury yields moved higher after data showed weakness in the housing market for a second straight month. housing starts were a little weaker but the building permits were definitely significantly weaker," said Justin Lederer, an interest rates strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 12/32 in price to yield 2.0781%, from 2.12% late on Tuesday.
The dollar pulled back from strong gains on Tuesday in the wake of better-than-expected monthly retail sales data, while Sterling bounced after touching a 27-month low versus the greenback as no-deal Brexit concerns mounted. dollar index .DXY fell 0.19%, with the euro EUR= up 0.16% to $1.1227. Sterling GBP= was last trading at $1.2432, up 0.23% on the day.
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http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl Global currencies vs. dollar
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http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j Housing starts, building permits Image
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