Stocks Close Lower After Late Slump

Stocks are closing mostly lower following a late slump Wednesday, as Apple jumped but health care and food and drink makers fell, the AP reports. Apple advanced 4.4% after it announced a $100 billion stock buyback and met Wall Street's estimates in its fiscal second quarter. In health care, drugmaker Gilead Sciences dropped 8.2%. Beer brewer Molson Coors tumbled 15.4% after it said US sales slowed. The S&P 500 index slid 19 points, or 0.7%, to 2,635. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 174 points, or 0.7%, at 23,924. The Nasdaq composite fell 29 points, or 0.4%, to 7,100. (More stock market stories.)