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Markets & Stocks
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No spring in stocks' step
Market shows little initiative in early trading amid weak tech earnings, 'quadruple witch' impact.
June 18, 2004: 9:46 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stock markets floundered around the breakeven point early Friday as investors showed disappointment about some tech earnings and scrutinized still expensive oil.

After 10 minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average (down 0.92 to 10,376.60, Charts), the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 0.53 to 1,131.52, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (down 0.22 to 1,983.45, Charts) all traded just below unchanged.

The last trading day of what has been a pretty lackluster week is bound to be fairly volatile. Friday -- which happens to be the last trading day of spring -- is a "quadruple witching" day, when stock index futures and options, and individual stock futures and options all expire simultaneously.

Among early movers, two tech companies offered mostly upbeat earnings, but saw investors sell their stocks on expectations for even higher results.

Red Hat (RHAT: down $2.39 to $20.00, Research, Estimates) tumbled after the Linux distributor reported higher quarterly earnings late Thursday on revenue that missed analysts' estimates.

Adobe Systems (ADBE: down $0.69 to $43.92, Research, Estimates) edged lower. The graphics design chipmaker reported earnings late Thursday of 44 cents per share, up from 27 cents a year earlier and 2 cents more than expected. However, shares declined, as some investors had hoped the company would post even more bullish results.

The one economic report released Friday morning showed the U.S. current account deficit widened more than expected in the first quarter, due to the increasing gap between imports and exports.

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Oil prices continued to hover near two-week highs. Brent crude oil futures rose 7 cents to $36.28 a barrel in London. Among other commodities, COMEX gold rallied $5.90 to $395.40 an ounce.

Treasury prices were flat, with the 10-year note yield at 4.68 percent. The dollar was a bit weaker versus the yen and euro.

In international trade, Asian markets closed mostly lower Friday, while European markets were mixed at midday.  Top of page




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Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2013 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.
Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2013 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.