Stocks slump as corporate profits fail to excite
NEW YORK - U.S. stocks are lower Thursday morning as investors fail to get excited by quarterly reports from big names like retailer Walmart and technology bellwether Cisco Systems.
Most industries are slipping, with some of the biggest losses going to technology and industrial companies, retailers and banks. After dramatic moves late last week and earlier this week, stocks appear to have returned to the pattern of small moves that has marked this year.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 22 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,446 as of 1:41 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 145 points, or 0.7 percent, to 21,880. The Nasdaq composite lost 77 points, or 1.3 percent, to 6,267. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 13 points, or 1 percent, to 1,370.
Walmart did better than analysts expected in the second quarter as shoppers spent more money on its website and more people came to its stores. Walmart stock has rallied over the last month, but Thursday's results weren't enough to keep that going. The stock lost $1.56, or 1.9 percent, to $79.42 although it is still up 8 percent since July 10.
Other retailers slipped as well. Amazon fell $9.22 to $968.96 and Macy's lost 36 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $19.78.
Bond prices inched higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.22 percent from 2.23 percent.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 17 cents to $46.61 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 6 cents to $50.33 a barrel in London.
The dollar dipped to 109.83 yen from 110.16 yen. The euro fell to $1.1731 from $1.1769.
Overseas, Germany's DAX fell 0.5 percent and the CAC 40 of France shed 0.6 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 also gave up 0.6 percent. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1 percent lower and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.2 percent. In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.6 percent.
