U. S. stocks are mostly lower Tuesday as sporting goods companies and car parts retailers slump. Bond prices are falling and yields are climbing, which is giving banks a lift. Stocks are coming…
NEW YORK (AP) – U. S. stocks are mostly lower Tuesday as sporting goods companies and car parts retailers slump. Bond prices are falling and yields are climbing, which is giving banks a lift. Stocks are coming off their biggest one-day gain in more than three months as the market recovered from last week’s turmoil.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dipped 3 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,462 as of 1: 45 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 13 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,908. Nasdaq composite fell 10 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,330. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks shed 9 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,384.
AIR BALL: Dick’s Sporting Goods cut its annual forecast after a weak second quarter. The sporting goods chain said athletic apparel sales were weak and that it plans to do more marketing and cut prices as it tries to keep its market share. Its stock plunged $7.36, or 21.1 percent, to $27.55.
Other sporting goods retailers skidded as well. Foot Locker fell $2.19, or 4.4 percent, to $47.13 and Hibbett Sports dropped $1.80, or 12.9 percent, to $12.15. Athletic apparel companies also lost ground. Nike shed $1.33, or 2.2 percent, to $58.46 and Under Armour lost 70 cents, or 4.1 percent, to $16.42.
PARKED: Auto parts retailer Advance Auto Parts tumbled after it slashed its annual forecasts. The company and its competitors are facing weakening demand because car sales are slowing down from their recent record pace. Meanwhile competition from online retailers is growing. Advance Auto Parts dropped $23.97, or 21.9 percent, to $85.35. Its competitors held up far better. AutoZone sank $15.27, or 2.9 percent, to $510.05 and O’Reilly Automotive gave up $3.23, or 1.6 percent, to $195.21. All three have taken steep losses this year.
BERKSHIRE BUYING AND SELLING: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought stock in consumer credit company Synchrony Financial and picked up more shares of Bank of New York Mellon. It sold its remaining shares of General Electric and continued to reduce its stake in IBM. Synchrony gained $1.31, or 4.4 percent, to $30.96 and Bank of New York Mellon picked up 39 cents to $53.22. GE fell 19 cents to $25.17.
RETAIL WOES: Home improvement retailer Home Depot lost $4.96, or 3.2 percent, to $149.30 in spite of a solid quarterly report. Rival Lowe’s also gave up $2.75, or 3.5 percent, to $74.97.
Luxury retailer Coach tumbled after its fourth-quarter sales and its profit forecast for the current fiscal year came up short of analyst estimates. Its shares fell $6.45, or 13.5 percent, to $41.47.
BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.26 percent from 2.22 percent. Fifth Third Bancorp rose 27 cents, or 1 percent, to $26.95 and Discover Financial Services added 94 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $61.44.
DRILLING DOWN: Offshore oil drilling rig company Transocean said it will buy Songa Offshore for $1.2 billion in cash. The deal expands Transocean’s backlog as it continues to deal with low oil prices, but it will saddle the company with even more debt. Transocean had about $6.6 billion in long-term debt at the end of June, and investors value the company at about $3 billion. Its stock gave up 40 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $8.
ECONOMICS: Consumers went out shopping in a big way in July and U. S. retail sales grew by the biggest amount this year. Retail sales have not been great in 2017, and consumer spending accounts for around 70 percent of economic activity. The latest result is a good sign for overall economic growth.
ENERGY: U. S. crude oil lost 10 cents to $47.49 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 2 cents to $50.71 a barrel in London. Energy companies fell as well. Schlumberger fell 48 cents to $63.47 and Occidental Petroleum declined 53 cents to $60.71.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 110.45 yen from 109.63 yen. The euro fell to $1.1742 from $1.1782.
OVERSEAS: France’s CAC 40 was up 0.4 percent and the German DAX rose 0.1 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was 0.4 percent higher. In Japan the benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.1 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.3 percent. Markets in South Korea were closed for a national holiday.
___
AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http: //twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at https: //apnews.com/search/marley%20jay
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
