Marley Jay, The Associated Press, at 14:02 on February 24, 2017
NEW YORK - U.S. stocks are losing ground Friday as banks fall and energy companies continue to slide. The Dow Jones industrial average is on track to break a 10-day winning streak. The losses are modest, but there's far more selling than buying on Wall Street.
Investors are looking for safer places to put their money, as they've done over the last few days. Bond prices are rising and yields are dropping. That's sending interest rates lower, which hurts banks. High-dividend stocks are rising.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 60 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 20,749 as of 2:50 p.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 2,358. The Nasdaq composite sank 6 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 5,829. The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller companies, slid 2 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 1,392. Major indexes are mixed this week but remain close to all-time highs.
BONDS: Bond prices sank again. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slid to 2.32 per cent from 2.39 per cent. Lower bond yields push interest rates lower, which means banks will make less money on mortgages and other loans. Wells Fargo slipped $1.10, or 1.9 per cent, to $57.39 and Bank of America fell 49 cents, or 2 per cent, to $24.09. Investment banks and insurers traded lower as well.
With yields down, investors bought utility stocks and phone company stocks, which pay large dividends similar to bonds. Exelon gained $1.02, or 2.8 per cent, to $37 and NextEra Energy rose $2.44, or 1.9 per cent, to $130.63.
HPE HURTING: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which sells data-centre hardware and other commercial tech gear to big organizations, slumped after it cut its profit estimate for the year. Its business was hurt by the strong dollar, expenses, and other problems that it said will be "near-term." HP Enterprise's quarterly sales dropped 10 per cent and weren't as strong as analysts hoped. Its stock skidded $1.71, or 6.9 per cent, to $22.96.
Chipmakers and other technology companies also lost ground.
METAL GAINS: Gold and silver continued to rise. Gold, which jumped 1.5 per cent a day earlier, picked up 0.6 per cent to $1,258.30 an ounce. The metal is trading at its highest price since just after the presidential election, although it's down sharply from this summer. Silver added 1.2 per cent to $18.34 an ounce and copper picked up 1.4 per cent to $2.70 a pound after a steep loss the previous day. That helped mining companies trade higher.
PENNEY POUNDED: Department store operator J.C. Penney said it will close 130 to 140 stores and two distribution centres in the next few months. That's about 14 per cent of its stores. Penney also said it will offer voluntary early retirement plans to about 6,000 employees. The company is trying to cut costs as it competes with online retailers. Its stock gave up 31 cents, or 4.5 per cent, to $6.55.
Competitor Nordstrom jumped after it disclosed a better-than-expected quarterly profit with help from strong sales online and at Nordstrom Rack. Its shares gained $2.952, or 6.7 per cent, to $46.89. Kohl's also rose $2.24, or 5.5 per cent, to $43.15. The stock dipped Thursday after investors weren't thrilled by the company's fourth-quarter report.
PRISON STOCKS: For-profit prison operator Geo Group rose $1.40, or 3 per cent, to $48.77 and CoreCivic added 75 cents, or 2.2 per cent, to $34.75. Late Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed the federal Bureau of Prisons to continue doing business with private prison operators. That reversed an Obama administration policy that sent the stocks tumbling when it was announced in August.
The companies operate detention facilities used by Immigration and Customs enforcement as well as prisons and they get a lot of their revenue from contracts with the federal government. Since Donald Trump was elected president in November their stocks have soared, as investors expected the Obama-era policy would be reversed and that Trump's policies toward immigration and criminal justice would strengthen their business. CoreCivic has climbed 140 per cent since the election and Geo Group has doubled in value.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 46 cents to $53.99 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for pricing international oils, fell 59 cents, or 1 per cent, to $55.99 a barrel in London. Energy companies continued to trade lower. They've fallen sharply over the last month. The S&P 500 energy company index is down 7 per cent this year while the broader S&P 500 is up more than 5 per cent.
OTHER ENERGY TRADING: Wholesale gasoline declined 1 cent to $1.51 a gallon. Heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.64 a gallon. Natural gas picked up 1 cent to $2.63 per 1,000 cubic feet.
CURRENCIES: The dollar slid to 112.12 yen from 112.75 yen. The euro fell to $1.0561 from $1.0574.
OVERSEAS: The DAX in Germany fell 1.2 per cent and France's CAC 40 slumped 0.9 per cent. In Britain the FTSE 100 shed 0.4 per cent. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.5 per cent and South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6 per cent. The Hang Seng of Hong Kong fell 0.5 per cent.
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