Stocks struggle after ISMMajor gauges give back early gains, turn weaker after manufacturing and construction spending reports miss forecasts.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks gave back opening gains Wednesday, turning mixed, after a weaker-than-expected ISM manufacturing survey gave investors a reason to back out after the recent rally. The Dow Jones industrial average (down 10.96 to 12,070.97, Charts) lost a few points around an hour into the session. The blue-chip barometer has closed at record highs in 13 of the previous 21 sessions.
The broader S&P 500 (down 0.60 to 1,377.34, Charts) index and the tech-fueled Nasdaq (down 5.26 to 2,361.45, Charts) both lost a few points. Both indexes hit more than 5-1/2 year highs last week. Stocks rose at the open Wednesday, as investor welcomed falling oil prices, some merger news and geared up for the ISM report. But the market lost some steam after the index showed a surprise dip in October. Released at around the same time, a separate report showed that September construction spending fell 0.3 percent, a bigger dip than what economists were expecting. An earlier report from ADP Employer Services showed that employers added around 128,000 jobs to their payrolls in October, providing an optimistic sign for Friday's widely-watched government employment release. In corporate news, Time Warner (down $0.16 to $19.85, Charts) reported quarterly sales and earnings that rose from a year ago, but were shy of forecasts. The parent of CNNMoney also reaffirmed its profit outlook for the full year. Shares fell 2 percent in active New York Stock Exchange trading. In possible merger news, drugstore CVS and Caremark, a pharmacy benefits manager, said that they were in talks to form a so-called merger of equals. Shares of CVS (down $2.38 to $29.00, Charts) slumped nearly 6 percent, while Caremark (up $1.71 to $50.94, Charts) rose 3.5 percent. Shares of MasterCard (up $12.06 to $86.16, Charts), the credit card association, rallied 15 percent in active trading after reporting quarterly earnings and sales that surged from a year earlier and beat estimates. Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers edged winners by a narrow margin on volume of 375 million shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers eight to five on volume of 460 million shares. Stocks were mixed Tuesday after disappointing reads on consumer confidence and manufacturing in the Midwest sparked worries about the economy. But the declines were modest at the end of an otherwise strong month - and an unusually strong October - on Wall Street. U.S. light crude oil for December delivery rose 12 cents to $58.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of oil was volatile after the release of a mixed weekly oil inventories report. Treasury prices were little changed, with the yield on the 10-year note at 4.60 percent, down from around 4.61 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. In currency trading, the dollar edged higher versus the euro and the yen. COMEX gold for December delivery added $10.80 to $617.60 an ounce. |
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