Technology companies led a slide in U.S. stocks early Thursday as the market pulled back from its latest record highs. Cruise lines, fast-food restaurants and other consumer-focused companies also declined. Phone company stocks notched gains. Investors were poring over a batch of company earnings. Crude oil prices fell.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 10 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,550 as of 10:14 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 81 points, or 0.4 percent, to 23,076. The Nasdaq composite slid 54 points, or 0.8 percent, to 6,570. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 12 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,492. The major stock indexes were coming off record highs on Wednesday.
ROUGH SEAS: Cruise line operators were among the biggest decliners. Norwegian Cruise Line was down $2.49, or 4.3 percent, at $54.98. Carnival lost $1.40, or 2.1 percent, to $66.06. Royal Caribbean fell $2.68, or 2.1 percent, to $122.20.
TECHNOLOGY SLUMP: Declines in Apple, Facebook and other big technology companies weighed on the sector. Apple gave up $4.35, or 2.7 percent, to $155.41, while Facebook lost $2.87, or 1.6 percent, to $173.17. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, slid $11.67, or 1.2 percent, to $1,001.07.
BUH-BYE: American Express declined after the credit card issuer said that CEO Kenneth Chenault will retire February 1. Chenault, who has been CEO since 2001, will be succeeded by vice chairman Stephen Squeri. AmEx also reported better-than-expected quarterly results. The stock dropped 49 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $91.59.
DIALED IN: Verizon Communications climbed 3.4 percent after the company said its wireless unit did well in its latest quarter and gained more mobile phone users than expected. Its shares rose $1.63 to $50.29.
CHINA: China’s economy expanded at a 6.8 percent annual pace during the July-September quarter, relatively stable growth but slightly below the previous quarter’s 6.9 percent, government data showed. The latest result gives a boost to the ruling Communist Party, which has been trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy to slower, more sustainable growth based on consumer spending rather than exports and investment.
BONDS YIELDS: Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.30 percent from 2.35 percent late Wednesday.
OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 68 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $51.36 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 15 cents on Wednesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 84 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $57.31 per barrel in London. It gained 27 cents the day before.
CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 112.48 yen from 112.90 yen on Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.1845 from $1.1802.
MARKETS OVERSEAS: Global stocks were mostly down after data showed that China’s economic growth slowed slightly and tensions rose over the Spanish region of Catalonia’s bid for independence. In Europe, Germany’s DAX declined 0.8 percent, while France’s CAC 40 fell 0.6 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.5 percent. Asian markets finished mostly weaker. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.4 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slumped 1.9 percent.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.