US stocks mostly lower on budget impasse US stocks have ended an up-and-down day mostly lower, as investors watched a Washington budget debate as the deadline for funding the government looms. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 66.79 (0.43 per cent) to 15,334.59, the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 4.42 (0.26 per cent) to 1,697.42, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 2.97 (0.08 per cent) to 3,768.25. Financial equities were sharp decliners. Two of the Dow's newest components, Goldman Sachs and Visa, tumbled 1.4 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively. Citigroup dropped 1.2 per cent and Wells Fargo shed 1.4 per cent.vJPMorgan Chase, a Dow component, fell a hefty 2.2 per cent amid regulatory woes.The bank has offered to pay about $US3 billion ($3.20 billion) to settle several pending probes, the Wall Street Journal reported online. Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry lost 3.3 per cent one day after announcing a proposed $US4.7 billion buyout by a consortium planning to take the struggling firm private. Applied Materials, which makes tools to produce semiconductors and displays, surged 9.1 per cent after announcing a plan to merge with Tokyo Electron to create a new firm worth $US29 billion. Home builder Lennar rose 4.3 per cent after earnings came in at 54 cents per share, nine cents above expectations. The company said the long-term outlook ""remains extremely bright."" KB Home, another homebuilder, tacked on 4.3 per cent after earnings bested expectations by nine cents at 30 cents per share. Red Hat, a developer of cloud computing systems and other technologies, sank 11.7 per cent after earnings narrowly bested expectations, but billings fell short of the level expected by some analysts. Deutsche Bank said it was ""cautious"" on the company ""as momentum slows"" to ""the lowest in 17 quarters."" Bond prices surged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 2.65 per cent from 2.71 per cent, while the 30-year fell to 3.67 per cent from 3.75 per cent. Prices and yields move inversely.