U.S. stocks ended lower Thursday as House Republican leaders shelved a key vote on the American Health Care Act.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 4.72 points, or 0.02 percent, to 20,656.58.
The S&P 500 lost 2.49 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,345.96.
The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 3.95 points, or 0.07 percent, to 5,817.69.
The House of Representatives delayed its vote on repealing and replacing parts of the Affordable Care Act, which had been planned on Thursday, after Republican leaders failed to rally enough support to pass the bill, according to the CNBC.
The House vote is crucial for U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda. Trump has said the repeal and replacement of Obamacare must happen before action can be taken on his other plans, including a major tax reduction.
Meanwhile, trades also kept a close eye on a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday for clues regarding the path of future interest rate hikes. However, she did not address monetary policy or the economic outlook in prepared remarks.
On the economic front, in the week ending March 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 258,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.
U.S. sales of new single-family houses in February 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000, beating market consensus, said the Commerce Department Thursday.
"While supply of new homes remains robust, limited inventory of existing homes, which account for the majority of the housing market, is likely to keep new home sales in the 500k-600k range they have been in since mid-2015," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial.
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