Market Roundup
A seven-day winning streak for stocks came to a quiet end Tuesday as banks, especially smaller ones, dropped along with bond yields and interest rates. Energy companies sank to their lowest prices in a year.
Investors bought up government bonds and highyield stocks. Technology companies continued to soar. Airlines slumped.
Still, stocks remain close to their record highs. JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist for TD Ameritrade, said he thinks that stocks will stay at high levels until more details about the Trump administration's tax proposals become public.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.21% from 2.25%. Falling interest rates hit banks. JPMorgan Chase shares fell 1.7% to $83.90. Smaller banks fell harder; Hope Bancorp dropped 3.7% to $17.48 and First Financial Bancorp sank 2.9% to $25.05.
Oil prices recovered from an early stumble and finished only slightly lower, but energy companies continued to fall. Hess dropped 3.1% to $46.67 and Schlumberger declined 1.2% to $68.74. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index of energy firms reached its lowest level in a year. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 14 cents to $49.66 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 45 cents to $51.84 a barrel.
Tech firms led the way. Security software maker Symantec rose 1.5% to $30.71. Nvidia went up 2.1% to $144.87. Micron Technology climbed 3.2% to $30.71.
International airlines slumped as the government considered expanding a ban on laptops and tablets in the passenger cabins of flights into the United States. Delta Air Lines slid 3.4% to $49.06. United Continental sank 2.5% to $79.25. American Airlines fell 1.6% to $47.96.
E-commerce and payment services firm First Data said it will buy payment processing firm CardConnect for $15 a share in cash, or about $468 million. CardConnect stock jumped 10.3% to $15.05. First Data shares rose 1.1% to $16.82.
Atwood Oceanics soared 24.3% to $10.04 after the offshore drilling contractor agreed to be bought by Ensco for $10.72 a share in stock, or $863 million. Ensco slid 5.1% to $6.36.
Xactly jumped 16% to $15.55 after the cloud-based incentives company agreed to be taken private by Vista Equity Partners in a deal that values it at $15.65 a share, or $499 million.
The dollar fell to 110.78 yen from 111.19 yen. The euro rose to $1.1188 from $1.1176.
Wholesale gasoline remained at $1.64 a gallon. Heating oil fell 1 cent to $1.55 a gallon. Natural gas slid 17 cents, or 5%, to $3.15 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold fell $5.70 to $1,265.70 an ounce. Silver rose 10 cents to $17.43 an ounce. Copper stayed at $2.56 a pound.