Channel

US Stocks Meander as Energy Companies Sink, Industrials Rise

US Stocks Meander as Energy Companies Sink, Industrials Rise

By MARLEY JAY

AP Markets Writer

NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stocks are little changed Friday morning after a big gain the day before. Energy companies are falling after one of the largest companies in the industry, Schlumberger, announced lower revenue than investors hoped. Toy maker Mattel is nosediving after it reported a big drop in sales.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 1 point to 2,354 as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 3 points to 20,581. The Nasdaq composite was unchanged, matching its record high close from Thursday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks was also unchanged at 1,384. More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

Stocks rallied Thursday, but they’ve wandered up and down over the last few weeks. That may continue for a while. Next Friday the Bureau of Economic Analysis will release its report on first-quarter GDP growth, a critical look at the economy that investors pay a lot of at tention to. On the same day, the federal government is scheduled to reach its borrowing limit, which could trigger a government shutdown unless Congress agrees to extend it.

ENERGY: Schlumberger, the world’s biggest oilfield services company, fell after it reported less revenue than analysts had forecast. The company said revenue in China, Russia and the North Sea fell more than it had expected. The stock gave up $2.61, or 3.4 percent, to $73.90 and competitor Halliburton shed 50 cents, or 1 percent, to $47.19 as energy companies lost ground.

Benchmark U.S. crude shed 29 cents to $50.42 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 19 cents to $52.80 a barrel in London.

INDUSTRIALS: Industrial conglomerate Honeywell’s profit and sales were better than expected, and the company raised its profit projection for the year. The stock jumped $4.31, or 3.5 percent, to $128.08. Aviation electronics company Rockwell Collins raised its profit and sales forecasts after its $8.6 billion purchase of former competitor B/E Aerospace. The new estimates are greater than what analysts expected and its stock rose $3.44, or 3.5 percent, to $103.03.

VISA PAYS UP: Payment processing giant Visa said its profit dropped 75 percent in the fiscal second quarter, largely due to the costs of integrating its recently acquired Visa Europe into the larger company. Its results were stronger than expected, but Wall Street wasn’t that impressed. The stock edged up 65 cents to $91.80.

BONDS: Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slid to 2.22 percent from 2.24 percent.

CURRENCY: The dollar dipped to 109.11 yen from 109.31 yen. The euro fell to $1.0700 from $1.0722.

OVERSEAS: France’s CAC-40 retreated 0.2 percent after a big gain Thursday. Germany’s DAX gained 0.2 percent and the British FTSE 100 was little changed. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained just over 1 percent and the Kospi in South Korea added 0.7 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.1 percent.

___

AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP

His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/marley-jay

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.

 

Tagged with

Comment on the story

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *