U.S. Stocks Lose Gains As Crude-oil Passes $100 A Barrel
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks on Tuesday turned lower after crude oil crossed the $100 a barrel mark, spooking investors.
"There has not been anything today that would encourage investors to be bullish," said Tony Crescenzi, chief bond market strategist, Miller Tabak & Co., who cited crude's topping $100 a barrel late in the session as the tipping point for stocks.
After a 150-point advance earlier on, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was more recently off 13.11 points to 12,332.82, with 17 of its 30 components posting losses.
Telecommunications stocks proved to be the biggest laggards for the blue chips, with AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications both off more than 5% after the two telecom companies both announced similarly priced unlimited calling plans.
Other blue chips posting losses included J.P. Morgan Chase , down 1.2%, and the Coca-Cola Co. , also off 1.2%.
American International Group Inc. fronted the Dow's advance, climbing 1.1%, in the wake of a report in Barron's that the insurer is likely to recover $4.88 billion in losses from credit-default swaps.
And, with the price of crude oil futures topping $100 a barrel for the third time this year, , shares of oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. also gained, with Exxon up 2.5% and Chevron climbing 1.8%.
The broader indexes also fell, with the S&P 500 slipping 1.74 points to 1,348.15.
The Nasdaq Composite declined 14.52 points to 2,307.28.
The technology heavy index had been bolstered by expectations computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. would top expectations when reporting first-quarter results after the close, along with Microsoft Corp. signaling its intention to play hardball in its quest to acquire Yahoo Inc. . .
Rising energy costs prompted a decline in the shares of major airlines, with the Amex Airline Index off almost 3.2%. .
Elsewhere on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures rallied nearly 3% in a broad-based advance for commodities, as platinum surged more than 4% to another record high. .
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped 1 billion, and decliners beat advancers 9 to 7. On the Nasdaq, more than 1.5 billion shares traded hands, and declining stocks edged just ahead of those advancing.
The National Association of Home Builders reported a slight improvement in the mood of U.S. homebuilders in February, with the group's index rising to 20 from 19 in January.
And retailing giant Wal-Mart reported a 4% rise in fourth-quarter profits, beating expectations. .
"The market is also taking a slightly more positive view on the consumer after Wal-Mart's Q4 earnings beat expectations," said analysts at Action Economics.
Struggling bond insurer MBIA Inc. said Joseph Brown is returning to take up his former posts as chairman and chief executive. Brown told CNBC that he's been talking with New York Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo about ways of splitting MBIA's municipal bond business from its structured finance unit. .
Shares of Credit Suisse Group fell 4.2% after the Swiss banking giant said it overvalued asset-backed securities by at least $2.85 billion. .
Overseas, Shanghai-listed shares ended sharply higher. .
By Kate Gibson