Wall Street ends mostly lower after Fed's minutes

US stock indices closed the third session of the week lower after a spate of US housing data, while strong earnings results yesterday helped Wall Street mark the best performance in seven months. 

Earlier US data showed housing starts fell 5.3% in September to an annualized 1.201 million units, compared to a 7.1% surge in August, and edging estimates of a 5.6% drop. 

Building permits fell 0.6% last month to 1.241 million units, compared to a 4.1% decline in August, and missing estimates of a 2% increase. 

The Federal Reserve released the minutes of its September 25-26 meeting, at which the Federal Open Market Committee voted to increase interest rates by 25 basis points for the third time this year to just below 2.25% as expected, while carrying on plans to normalize the balance sheet. 

Indices, Commodities 

Dow Jones fell 0.36%, or 91.74 points to 25,706.68, while S&P 500 shed 0.03%, or 0.71 points to 2,809.21. NASDAQ Composite barely inched down 0.04% to 7,642.70. 

Gold futures due in December fell 0.38% to $1,226.30 an ounce, while the dollar index rose 0.56% to 95.58 to October 10 highs. 

US crude futures due in November fell 2.68% to $69.99 a barrel, marking September 18 lows, while Brent December futures fell 1.39% to $80.28 a barrel to September 24 lows.