Home United States USA — Financial Stocks slip but remain on track for another winning week

Stocks slip but remain on track for another winning week

336
0
SHARE

Stocks slipped in Friday morning trading, as falling oil prices dragged down energy companies, but the S&P 500 remained on track to close out its third straight winning week following a brutal December.
Stocks slipped Friday as falling oil prices dragged down energy companies, but the S&P 500 remained on track to close out its third straight winning week following a brutal stretch in December.
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 was down 7 points, or 0.3 percent, at 2,589, as of 3 p.m. Eastern time. It had been down as much as 0.7 percent in the morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 78, or 0.3 percent, to 23,923, and the Nasdaq composite lost 27, or 0.4 percent, to 6,959.
TAKING A BREATH: If the S&P 500 ends up lower for the day, it would be the first drop for the index in six days.
“After some of the initial gains we saw earlier in the week I think it’s just a rally looking tired,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. “I think it’s probably not much more than a chance for people to digest the move and try to get a sense of whether we’ve had a bounce — and this is it — or maybe a pause as we continue to move higher.”
CRUDE CALL: Energy stocks in the S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent for the largest loss among the 11 sectors that make up the index. ConocoPhillips, Diamondback Energy and Hess all fell more than 1.5 percent.
Benchmark U. S. crude oil fell 1.9 percent to settle at $51.59 per barrel. It broke a nine-day winning streak, during which oil recovered a portion of sharp losses from prior months when worries flared about weakening demand and too much supply. Brent crude, the international standard, sank 1.9 percent to $60.48 a barrel.
PLAYER 2 HAS EXITED: Activision Blizzard plunged 9.6 percent to $46.40 for the largest loss in the S&P 500 after it announced its eight-year partnership with game-developer Bungie is ending.

Continue reading...