Stocks fell on Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump disappointed investors during his first news conference since July, while Wall Street geared up for the start of earnings season.

"I think we're moderating some of the moves we've seen over the past few weeks, and that's OK," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities. "We've baked in a lot of good news; now we need policy details."

The Dow Jones industrial average closed about 65 points lower, with Goldman Sachs and Walt Disney contributing the most losses. At session lows, the blue-chips index had fallen more than 180 points.

The S&P 500 dropped around 0.2 percent, with financials falling 0.7 percent to lead decliners. Pressuring the financial sector were bank stocks, as the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) shed 1.3 percent. The Nasdaq composite closed lower for the first time in 2017, falling 0.29 percent.

"Donald Trump's press conference on Wednesday was not what investors wanted to hear, with talk of protectionism and more company bashing not exactly being market friendly," Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a note.



Trump took shots at the pharmaceutical industry, which sent health care and biotechnology stocks reeling. He also failed to provide new details on three of his key policies: tax reform, deregulation of certain sectors and fiscal stimulus.

"The market ran to the upside after the election on the prospects of lower corporate and personal taxes, infrastructure spending and other measures," said Ernie Cecilia, CIO at Bryn Mawr Trust. "But the details and timing of said policies are also very important."



So-called safe-haven assets rose on Thursday, with gold futures briefly breaking above $1,200 per ounce, a key technical level. U.S. Treasury prices also rose, with the benchmark 10-year note yield falling to 2.35 percent and the short-term yield slipping to 1.17 percent.