Apple weighs on Wall St; energy shares a boost

Sept 8 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dipped on Thursday, weighed down by Apple after its iPhone 7 failed to impress Wall Street, while gains in energy shares limited the decline.

Apple fell 2.5 percent to $105.71, its steepest decline since June 24 when Britain's vote to leave the European Union unleashed a massive selloff.

SEE ALSO: Latest AAPL stock price

The company also said it would not release first-weekend sales of the new iPhone, limiting analysts' early visibility into the popularity of the product unveiled Wednesday.

The S&P 500 information technology index fell 0.9 percent and was the biggest loser among the benchmark's 10 major sectors, while the S&P energy index was up 1.7 percent following sharp gains in oil prices.

See photos from Wednesday's Apple event and the debut of the iPhone 7:

U.S. stocks have been trading in a tight range in recent months as investors try to assess the outlook for U.S. interest rates, the health of the U.S. economy and other issues.

"Against the backdrop of some disappointing data over the past month or two, the uncertainty of the election, uncertainty regarding the Fed ... we're positioned rather defensively trying to preserve capital until we get some visibility," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist, at Federated Investors in New York.

Recent weak economic data has underscored views the Federal Reserve may hold off on raising rates at its policy meeting this month. The European Central Bank held interest rates steady, as expected, on Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 43.35 points, or 0.23 percent, to 18,482.79, the S&P 500 lost 4.38 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,181.78 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 23.53 points, or 0.45 percent, to 5,260.40.

The S&P 500 index has not moved more than 1 percent in either direction on a daily basis since July 8.

NYSE declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by 1.20-to-1; on Nasdaq, a 1.01-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 13 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 91 new highs and 21 new lows. (Additional reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan and Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Nick Zieminski)

Get the details on the new iPhone 7: