US stocks dip as oil prices skid ahead of OPEC meeting
US stocks slide at the close of an up week
(about 2 hours later)
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are taking small losses Friday as energy companies are slipping with the price of oil. Utility companies are trading higher on falling bond yields. Gold and silver prices are up, sending metals and mining company stocks higher.
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks fell slightly as a dip in oil prices dragged energy companies lower, but for the week stocks ended sharply higher.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 44 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,882 as of 2 p.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 5 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,078. The Nasdaq composite index dipped 14 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,932.
Trading was quiet Friday as investors looked ahead to weekend meetings on the global economy and oil.
U.S. stocks haven’t moved much over the last two days, but they’re up almost 2 percent this week.
Oil fell 3 percent and made the energy sector worst performer by far in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Utility companies led the gainers.
OIL: U.S. crude fell 93 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $40.57 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international benchmark, lost 54 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $43.30 a barrel in London. The prices of wholesale gasoline, heating oil and natural gas also slumped.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 28 points Friday, or 0.2 percent, to close at 17,897. The Dow finished the week up 1.8 percent.
Ministers from major oil-producing companies will meet this weekend in Qatar to discuss their production policies. The price of oil has risen in recent weeks on hopes for a deal that will limit oil production in an effort to relieve a global glut. But a deal is far from a sure thing, and hopes for a meaningful production cut faded Friday and oil prices declined with them.
The S&P 500 fell 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,080. The Nasdaq composite fell 7 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,938.
Chevron lost 89 cents to $97.09 and Helmerich & Payne shed $1.64, or 2.7 percent, to $58.05. Valero Energy gave up $1.62, or 2.6 percent, to $59.94.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.77 percent.
POWER UP: Utility companies, the best performing group of stocks on the market this year, are making the largest gains Friday. Investors are being drawn to their relatively high dividend payouts because rising bond prices lowering the yields investors can earn from bonds. Edison International rose 96 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $71 and NextEra Energy rose $1.15, or 1 percent, to $117.30.
Bond prices rose and the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note declined to 1.74 percent from 1.79 percent.
MAKING BANK: Banks continued to report their first-quarter results, and in general they haven’t been as bad as analysts feared. Bank holding company Regions Financial also reported a bigger profit and greater revenue than expected. Its stock added 17 cents, or 2 percent, to $8.65.
Citigroup’s profit shrank 27 percent on weak results from its consumer bank and trading businesses, but the bank’s net income and revenue were greater than expected. However the stock fell 20 cents to $44.78.
METALS: The price of gold and silver both edged higher, which gave metals and mining companies a boost. Gold gained $8.10 to $1,234.60 an ounce, while silver rose 14 cents to $16.31 an ounce. Copper lost 2 cents to $2.15 a pound. Newmont Mining added 54 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $29.21 and Freeport-McMoRan picked up 14 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $10.87.
OUT OF MEMORY: Digital storage companies continued to tumble. Seagate Technology, which plunged 20 percent Thursday after it cut its quarterly guidance, lost $1.29, or 4.8 percent, to $25.82. The stock is trading at its lowest price in three years. Western Digital fell $1.61, or 3.8 percent, to $40.21 and NetApp slipped 53 cents, or 2 percent, to $25.12.
FACTORIES: U.S. factory production fell for the second month in a row, according to the Federal Reserve. That suggests American manufacturers are struggling with weak growth overseas, the strong dollar, and weak spending by U.S. consumers and businesses.
CHINA: China reported that its economy grew 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2016. While that is the slowest pace in years, it matched analyst projections.
OVERSEAS: Germany’s DAX fell 0.4 percent and the CAC-40 in France was 0.4 percent lower. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares declined 0.3 percent. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Japan shed 0.4 percent, while South Korean Kospi dipped 0.1 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.1 percent.
CURRENCIES: The euro rose to $1.1290 from $1.1267 and the dollar fell to 108.68 yen from 109.28 yen.
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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/marley-jay
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
