U.S. stocks end mixed amid conflicting news
U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, as investors were weighing a batch of conflicting news.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 31.79 points, or 0.29 percent, to 11,062.78. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 2.38 points, or 0.20 percent, to 1,176.19 and the Nasdaq rallied 33.39 points, or 1.37 percent, to 2,468.77.
Financials continued its slide on Friday, pressured by concerns that foreclosure problems could take a toll on banks.
Bank of America plummeted 4.92 percent, after dropping more than 5 percent in previous session, to end at 11.98 dollars per share. Wells Fargo declined 4.61 percent, while Citigroup shed 2. 71 percent. JPMorgan Chase, who reported better-than-expected earnings on Wednesday, was down 4.05 percent.
Technology sector was quite strong after Google released its third-quarter results late Thursday, which beat Wall Street estimates on both top and bottom lines. The searching engine giant soared more than 11 percent on the largest volume in two years, making the Nasdaq the best performer among major indexes.
However, General Electric’s poor quarterly revenues underscored the economy’s soft spots. Its share fell 5.1 percent, the biggest loser among all 30 Dow components.
Wall Street got a boost at the open after the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Fed is ready to act to prop up the economy. Bernanke’s remark was the latest confirmation that Fed is prepared to take further actions to boost the economy but only “wrestles with the size of aid program.”
Meanwhile, retail sales for the third straight month in September, easing concerns that consumer spending will shrink and endanger the recovery.
However, a later report on consumer sentiment came in worse- than-expected, souring the mood in the market.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary October reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment fell to 67.9 from 68.2 a month earlier, which is the lowest level since July.
Separately, the Labor Department said Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent in September while economists were expecting a larger increase.
Costs for goods other than food and energy, the so-called core consumer price index remained unchanged for the second straight month, showing prices were still restrained by the sluggish economy.
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