CORRECTED-US STOCKS-Wall Street closes lower, ending 3-day rally ahead of U.S. presidential debate

(In paragraph 8, please read third quarter instead fo second
quarter)
* First U.S. presidential debate due to start at 9 p.m. EDT
* Democratic sweep modestly positive for S&P 500 profits -
GS
* Consumer confidence surges in September
* Indexes down: Dow 0.48%, S&P 500 0.48%, Nasdaq 0.29%

By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Wall Street closed lower on
Tuesday, snapping a three-day winning streak as investors took
money off the table hours before the first U.S. presidential
debate.
All three major U.S. stock indexes lost ground. In a
reversal from Monday, market leaders Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O weighed heaviest
on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
"Tonight's presidential debate has the potential to move
markets and investors are unlikely to take a large position in
front of that," said David Carter, chief investment officer at
Lenox Wealth Advisors in New York. "Right now, markets are
clearly driven by events in Washington, be it fiscal stimulus or
the presidential election."
Market participants eyed the first head-to-head showdown
between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic
challenger Joe Biden in a debate expected to air from Cleveland
Tuesday evening. The latest poll shows Biden leading nationally and in a
number of battleground states. While the election has implications for different sectors,
notably healthcare, green energy and beneficiaries of Trump's
corporate tax cuts, Goldman Sachs analysts expected a Democratic
sweep of the White House and both chambers of Congress would be
beneficial to S&P 500 profits through 2024. "We think markets can do fine with either Trump or Biden,
but they need to know who the winner is," Carter added. "But
concern is rising about having a clear election winner in
November due partly to so many mail-in ballots, which will take
time to count."
In the closing days of September and the third quarter, the
major indexes were on track for their first monthly declines
since March, when mandated shutdowns slammed the economy.
Despite September's expected loss, the S&P and the Nasdaq
were on course for their best two-quarter winning streaks since
2009 and 2000, respectively.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled
a new, $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill proposed by House
Democrats, a sign of potential progress in the partisan
tug-of-war over the new aid package nearly two months after
emergency unemployment benefits expired for millions.

Stocks were given a brief boost early in the session by data
from the Conference Board, which showed consumer confidence
surging past expectations this month with the largest point gain
in 17 years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 131.4 points,
or 0.48%, to 27,452.66, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 16.13 points, or
0.48%, to 3,335.47 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
32.28 points, or 0.29%, to 11,085.25.
Among 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, all but communication
services .SPLRCL closed in the red, with energy .SPNY and
financials .SPSY suffering the largest percentage losses.
Sorrento Therapeutics SRNE.O jumped 14.3% after the
company's COVID-19 antibody candidates showed promise in a
study. Fitbit Inc FIT.N advanced 5.8% after Reuters reported
Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O was poised to win EU approval for its
$2.1 billion acquisition of the fitness tracker maker.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.53-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.07-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 7 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 63 new highs and 32 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 8.31 billion shares, compared
with the 9.99 billion average over the last 20 trading days.